‘I Know in IPL, Money is a Big Talking Point But …’: Ajit Agarkar, an assistant coach for DC, discusses Mukesh Kumar’s performance
Delhi Capitals assistant coach, Agarkar, admitted that eyes are on the players who got sold for big money in IPL but he has backed Mukesh to bounce back in the coming matches
For the past two seasons, the Delhi Capitals have placed a high level of trust in Indian fast bowlers, and they have recruited some domestic talent – Khaleel Ahmed, Chetan Sakariya, and Mukesh Kumar – to support Proteas pacer Anrich Nortje. Mukesh, from Bengal, was signed for INR 5.5 crore by the Delhi-based franchise. So far this season, things have not gone as planned for Delhi and Mukesh, as the franchise has lost its first two matches, and the 29-year-old has also failed to open his wicket account.
However, Delhi capitals assistant coach Ajit Agarkar has admitted that eyes are on the players who got sold for big money in IPL but he has backed Mukesh to bounce back in the coming matches.
“He’s played two games. I thought he bowl pretty well in Lucknow, started okay today and came up against David Miller who has taken a few bowlers down. Mukesh is a quality player and he learned from this experience, but as someone who’s played two games, I know in IPL, money is a big talking point but we see the quality that he has and with experience, he will show that and he’ll get better as a player. So there’s no doubt about it from my side,” Agarkar replied to News18 CricketNext’s query in the post-match press conference.
Mukesh leaked 42 runs in four overs against Gujrat Titans and failed to create any major impact.
When asked about David Warner’s struggles and his low strike rate, Agarkar called him one of the best players in the history of IPL and suggested that the Delhi batters have collectively failed to put up a show.
“David got a 50 in the previous game. I think today was all right. I think collectively we failed to get through, I don’t think there’s any difference in approaches. He’s probably been one of the best players ever in the IPL. So you expect him to get it right, just as a unit, I think We’ve not had a big score in two games now and you’ve gotta remember, it’s just been two games. I know, we certainly could have played better in both games. So we just have to put it right. We have to get more runs. There’s no running away from the fact,” he said.
Talking about Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan’s struggles against the pacers in the first two matches, Agarkar said it isn’t fair to point out one or two players when the whole team has not performed well.
it isn’t fair to point out one or two players when the whole team has not performed well.
“I mean, they got runs before against fast bowling. In general, I don’t think we batted well, so why point out one or two guys. None of our top orders really, no one really got going. I mean, in both games we’ve not had big runs at the top with some of the other teams have, and you can see the difference.”
“There’s no point picking individuals. Collectively, we’ve not been good enough on both nights and we need to improve because we’re playing against some good teams Lot of credit to Gujarat, and we need to improve collectively as a group as a batting unit to get better results,” he added.
Delhi Capitals skipper David Warner made a bold decision during the Titans clash as he didn’t use his deputy Axar Patel’s services as a bowler. It raised several eyebrows but Agarkar feels it was a tactical call which sometimes a captain has to take on the field considering match’s situation.
“There was a bit of dew. The way the pitch was playing there was slightly more assistance for the pacers and we had Mitchell Marsh as a bowling option so we used his. Left-handers were also in the middle and ground dimensions are short so it was one of the decisions which was taken on the field maybe it could have been a little bit of a risk to bowl a finger spinner,” he added.