Delhi Daredevils team mentor and former Test pacer T A Sekar on Sunday said he always asks his bowlers to go for wickets and not worry about giving away runs in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
'I tell the bowlers to go for wickets. I don't mind a bowler giving 10 or 14 runs in an over. If he picks up two wickets he is as good as giving away only six runs an over,' Sekar said at the Wankhede Stadium ahead of the Daredevils game against Mumbai Indians on Monday.
'Because there will be two new batsmen at the crease and I can use other bowlers, run up a few overs against the new batsmen and save my strike bowlers for the later half of the innings. If you get two wickets in the first six overs, it's a very good achievement and even till eleven overs if you can get wickets then it's very good. It's not just a question of runs per over,' added the 55-year-old former Tamil Nadu player who had been associated with Mumbai Indians for a couple of years as the team director.
He also defended the performance of Irfan Pathan who was expensive in the game against Royal Challengers Bangalore and said the Baroda all-rounder bowled very well in the Daredevils' previous game at home. 'Irfan went for a lot of runs against RCB but any bowler can go for runs in a T20 game. He bowled very well against Chennai and got the crucial wicket of Ravindra Jadeja. I think he is on the right track, moving the ball well and capable of getting wickets with the new ball. He also gives the team the balance. A couple of close decisions in the last match could have turned his bowling analysis better,' said Sekar
'I tell the bowlers to go for wickets. I don't mind a bowler giving 10 or 14 runs in an over. If he picks up two wickets he is as good as giving away only six runs an over,' Sekar said at the Wankhede Stadium ahead of the Daredevils game against Mumbai Indians on Monday.
'Because there will be two new batsmen at the crease and I can use other bowlers, run up a few overs against the new batsmen and save my strike bowlers for the later half of the innings. If you get two wickets in the first six overs, it's a very good achievement and even till eleven overs if you can get wickets then it's very good. It's not just a question of runs per over,' added the 55-year-old former Tamil Nadu player who had been associated with Mumbai Indians for a couple of years as the team director.
He also defended the performance of Irfan Pathan who was expensive in the game against Royal Challengers Bangalore and said the Baroda all-rounder bowled very well in the Daredevils' previous game at home. 'Irfan went for a lot of runs against RCB but any bowler can go for runs in a T20 game. He bowled very well against Chennai and got the crucial wicket of Ravindra Jadeja. I think he is on the right track, moving the ball well and capable of getting wickets with the new ball. He also gives the team the balance. A couple of close decisions in the last match could have turned his bowling analysis better,' said Sekar