Dhawal Kulkarni: 'I'm bowling a bit quicker now'

After a three-month injury layoff - rehab at NCA and all - Dhawal Kulkarni is back, playing for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and looking forward to do well in the upcoming IPL.

"The more I play the more confident I will become and the more it will show," says Dhawal Kulkarni after his injury layoff.

Dhawal Kulkarni's career - as like any pacer's - has often been hurt by injuries. The most recent being the hamstring injury he picked up in the Ranji trophy quarterfinal versus Jharkhand in Mysuru. After a three-month injury layoff - rehab at NCA and all - he played the last two group matches for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare trophy here. As is often the case with the time that rehab affords, he has deliberated and worked on an aspect of his bowling, and returned. Reformed, he believes. For he senses that he's consciously upped his pace.

"I think I'm bowling a bit quicker than I did before the injury," he said after Mumbai's final group match in the Vijay Hazare trophy at the MRF-Pachaiyappa's ground here.

"The guys at the NCA worked really hard on my fitness. I wanted to, and so consciously tried to, generate more pace than I usually did when I got back to training. I tried maximise the power a bowler draws from the run-up and delivery stride. I worked on my arm speed as well. Now, the more I play the more confident I will become and the more it will show."

He said he's "never disheartened" that he's been in and out of the National team, that he's never had a consistent run.

"That's part of the game. I've never taken it in a negative way and let it affect me. You have to wait for your chances. And when you get the chance, you have to grab it."

It makes it all the more important to have a good IPL stint this year.

"It's going to be really important. Especially since I've been out for months. I have to do really well this year. And a good thing about IPL is that you learn a lot by bowling under pressure."