Recently-retired Indian cricketer Vinay Kumar has appreciated the Indian Premier League (IPL) for giving young bowlers a lot of experience and exposure to international players. He is of the opinion that a player that plays both the Ranji Trophy and the IPL gets a huge amount of experience in a short period of time.

Vinay Kumar also talked about the mental aspect of fast bowlers. He likes the fact that the IPL gives young bowlers the right mentality to bowl to international batsmen like AB de Villiers, David Warner, and others.

The 37-year-old told IANS, "I will talk only about the mental aspect. I will give credit to IPL because IPL definitely helped all the bowlers to think in different and get an opportunity to play with international cricketers. You play domestic cricket, Ranji Trophy for five-six years, the kind of maturity or experience that you gain by playing IPL for just two seasons."

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"Bowling to players like AB de Villiers, David Warner, Chris Gayle, Rohit Sharma in IPL or sitting out in the dugout and watching them — that kind of molding helps you to quickly understand their game and bring adaptability. Working with international cricketers takes your thinking to a different level," he added.

Vinay Kumar, who is the most successful pacer in Ranji Trophy history, cited his own example of bowling with the likes of Dale Steyn, Anil Kumble, and Jacques Kallis for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). He believes that the IPL was the only platform where he could get such an experience.

"People are maturing so quickly. I would say that both Ranji Trophy and IPL combine to give you so much experience within a short period of time. I will give you my example. It was great to work with Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Dale Steyn, and Jacques Kallis."

"I would have never got that opportunity — foreign fast bowlers, foreign players — in domestic cricket. That way, IPL has given exposure to everyone. It is playing a big role. Add to that, India A tours are also helping players to get to know conditions abroad," he added.

IPL also gave Team India a much-needed pace battery with the likes of Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, and Umesh Yadav leading the national pace attack. According to Vinay Kumar, such a potent bowling attack enables the seniors to take breaks along the way and gives youngsters the opportunity to have a taste of international cricket.

Vinay said, "You have so many options. There are so many seniors. For example, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, and Umesh Yadav — can take a break whenever they want. They can choose matches to play."

"The workload is being monitored really well. There are so many bowlers who are playing T20Is, ODIs. Cricket is growing. They are playing some format or the other, going back and doing proper training and getting good recovery."

The Karnataka pacer played 1 Test, 31 ODIs, and 9 T20Is for Team India and picked a total of 49 international wickets. He believes that he certainly would have played a lot more Test matches but is happy with how his career shaped up.

"I am really happy with the way my career shaped up. Maybe I could have played more international matches, definitely with the red ball. I didn’t get many chances to play for India in Test cricket but I did play long for Karnataka in red-ball cricket. I don’t have any regrets."

"I always used to take challenges and I was always very happy if I would come and break a partnership. It was like taking a five-wicket haul. That kind of small, small challenges, breaking a partnership on a flat wicket, I always used to enjoy. Be it batting at the end or batting with the tail-enders or brilliant catches," he added.

While many people think that Vinay Kumar failed to impress in the only Test because of his lack of pace, he thinks otherwise. He interpreted his role of being the fourth pacer as someone who should keep bowling tight lines rather than bowl express pace.

Dale Steyn says, "PSL is more rewarding cricket-wise, while money is main topic in IPL"

He clarified, "I never thought my pace was less. People need to understand that I played as the fourth seamer in my first Test. I was kind of limited by the role that I was playing as the fourth bowler. And my role was to come and keep it tight. If I would have played as a second or a third seamer then the thinking process would have been different. Ishant, Umesh, and Zaheer Khan were there."

"I kind of thought I am the fourth bowler and need to keep it this way. The best example of my pace came immediately in the ODIs after the Tests. They went so well. I was the same bowler, the same tour. I bowled at a good pace, good bouncers. People don’t understand. There are so many legends of the game. Most of them might have gone wrong in their first match," he added.

However, Vinay Kumar has no regrets or complaints about the way his career as a fast bowler shaped up for India, Karnataka, and the IPL franchises he played for.

"At the end of the day, that is life. Whatever opportunity I got — one-dayers, Ranji Trophy, IPL — I was happy that I gave my best,” he concluded.

(IANS inputs)