Delhi Capitals’ (DC) assistant coach Ajit Agarkar believes that the left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav’s impressive performance at the start of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2022) can be a great confidence booster for the bowler.
In Delhi Capitals’ (DC) opening match against Mumbai Indians (MI), Yadav took the wickets of Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, and Anmolpreet Singh to return with excellent figures of 3/18 in his four overs and win the Player of the Match award as a result.
Ahead of DC’s next IPL 15 match against the Gujarat Titans on March 2, Agarkar hopes that Yadav builds on the good show from the first match of the ongoing IPL 2022 against the MI.
Agarkar said in the pre-match virtual press conference: “It’s huge. Look, he’s been a fantastic bowler over the years and hasn’t played a lot of cricket in the past two-three years perhaps for various teams like India or franchise. Every time he bowls well, he is going to get you wickets, which is what we hope he can do. I am very happy for him while commentating or watching him work as hard as anyone else. To have a good performance at the start of the tournament can be great for his confidence as well.”
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He was also really impressed with Lalit Yadav and Akshar Patel’s ability and handling of pressure situations.
The coach said, “Oh, (very) huge. We know of the depth we have in our batting and are still missing a couple of players who will be joining soon. But the way they just absorbed the pressure while playing against a big team like the Mumbai Indians and a couple of top bowlers in the team. The way those two absorbed pressures of a good pitch, fast outfield and dew.”
Agarkar further noted, “But it’s about handling the pressure at that point and someone like Lalit Yadav, who’s been around Delhi Capitals for a while now and these type of pressure situations are not easy to handle. Axar’s been around Indian set-up but even then, to score 9,10, 11 at one point in an over is never easy. It gives us a huge boost, especially from the situation we were in.”
The DC assistant coach is expecting a run-fest against Gujarat Titans.
Agarkar added, “They pulled a game towards the end. Like us, they were in a difficult situation. So, when you win from a difficult situation, it always gives you that much confidence as a team.”
He concluded, “It’s still early days in the tournament and both teams have played just one game as well. Not much of new venue as everyone has played in Pune and everyone expects to have a high-scoring game in the venue. It is about how you execute your skills on the day is what matters at the end of the day.”
(With IANS/PTI Inputs)
