“I think I have been able to fulfil the role assigned by the team management” – Mukesh Kumar after South Africa tour

India’s rising star Mukesh Kumar was satisfied with his performances on the recent tour of South Africa. Kumar feels he was able to fulfill the role that was assigned to him by the team’s think tank. The right-arm pacer scalped four wickets in the second Test match against South Africa and bowled with an impressive average of 14.

Kumar could only take a solitary wicket in three ODI matches against the Proteas at an average of 148. Furthermore, he picked three wickets in two T20Is against the home team at an average of 18.33.

The 30-year-old from Bihar bowled in the right areas to reap rewards in the second Test match and impressed with his accurate line and length.

“I think I have been able to fulfil the role assigned by the team management. I am satisfied with my bowling and best part is that I have worked hard and tried my best,” Mukesh told PTI.

Mukesh revealed that the strategy was to bowl in the good length area on South African pitches to make the most of the favorable conditions on offer.

“There’s a lot of difference between bowling on these kinds of tracks as compared to Indian pitches,” said Mukesh.

“In India, when you try to bowl fuller length, the ball moves in the air, but here, if you try to bowl too full, you get smashed. So we decided that we would bowl between 6 and 8 metres length (back of length). And since there is a lot of bounce on offer, you can get wickets,” Mukesh added.

Kumar revealed how Indian captain Rohit Sharma’s feedback in the nets session helped him in his bowling.

“He always tells us about areas to bowl when we seek feedback in the nets. They would tell us ‘if you pitch the ball in this particular length and channel you can trouble us.”

India will next take on Afghanistan in a three-match T20I series.