Vinay Kumar cites the example of South African quick Vernon Philander when asked if he should add a few yards of pace to his bowling.
"If I can bowl at an average speed of 130-135 kmph, it will be good enough to do well in any conditions. Look at Philander, he bowls at around 128-129 kmph, and he has done so well. If I keep hitting the areas where the batsman is weak, I can be successful," Vinay states, after Karnataka whipped Rajasthan in a Ranji Trophy outing here.
The Karnataka skipper understands well that his core strengths lie in swinging, accuracy and outsmarting opposition batters. All these traits helped Vinay register match figures of nine for 82 here.
"Sometimes I do feel that I should try and bowl quicker, but I mainly rely on swing. If I try to bowl too quick, then I will lose out on my strong points," he says.
The 32-year-old believes that this self-awareness will lead him to the Indian team. He admits that it will be a tough task, given the stiff competition.
"The Indian team already has many fast bowlers who have been performing well. So I can’t say that I should be in the team right away. I have to wait for my chance, and if it comes, I have to stick to my strengths," he says.
Vinay, who picked up his 400th first-class wicket when he had Rajasthan’s Siddharth Dobal fishing outside off, believes that he is peaking now. Indeed, his recent returns point to the same. In the 2014-15 Ranji Trophy season, Vinay finished as the joint leading wicket-taker with Shardul Thakur (48 wickets). The current campaign has yielded 16 wickets in three games, at an average of 10.6.
"I’ve been a few steps ahead of the batsmen, and this has helped me take the last 200 first-class wickets in quick time. Sometimes you have to play on the batsman’s mind. If I set the field for a bouncer, I will bowl full and swing it in. The batsman does not expect this. I've become a lot more mature with experience," he says.
Comments
SHARE