New Delhi, April 13 (IANS) Sunrisers pace spearhead Dale Steyn wants to pick the brains of former Pakistan skipper Waqar Younis, who is a bowling consultant with the Hyderabad franchise.
The top-rated fast bowler said Waqar’s presence is a big boon for Sunrisers and the youngsters will benefit a lot from the Pakistani. Waqar, known for his reverse swing and toe crushers, has 789 international wickets during an international career that spanned over 14 years.
“He (Steyn) is a fantastic bowler. I am looking forward to actually spending a bit of time with him. He hasn’t been with us for the last couple of days but certainly throughout the IPL I will pick his brain and see what I can get off from him. I know that the youngsters in the side will definitely benefit from him and so will I,” Steyn was quoted as saying by IPLT20.com.
Steyn was all praise for his bowlers as they defeated Delhi Daredevils by three wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here Friday night.
Steyn started the proceedings with two for 11 from his four overs and finished it off hitting a four as Sunrisers achieved the target of 115 with four balls to spare at the Feroze Shah Kotla.
Steyn said it was a tough chase on a slow Kotla wicket and didn’t expect himself to bat.
“I didn’t really expect to bat but I think it was one of those wickets where it was always going to be a difficult chase. 130 runs would have been close to impossible to get I reckon today. Both teams bowled really well. Tonight was a game for the bowlers definitely. So hats off to both sides for fighting it out till the last over,” Steyn said.
Asked about his miserly spell, Steyn said: “I just try and get through my four overs I guess without as much damage as possible. Today it was nice to get a wicket early, to get somebody like David Warner who is a great player and he can take the game away from you, we know that and so it was nice to get a wicket. And the early same thing with (Mahela) Jayawardene and Viru (Virender Sehwag); to get early wickets like that puts the (opposition) team on the back foot. If we hadn’t got those wickets they could have gone on to make 130 maybe 140 and I think it would been a really difficult score to try and get.”
Steyn said the plan against Daredevils was simple – play your best cricket. He feels Daredevils, who are on a four-match losing streak, have been unlucky this season.
“The game for Delhi Daredevils, they have been a bit undercooked this season so we kind of knew that if we played our best cricket they would probably only give us about seventy percent competition. I think (the target of) 115, if we would have gotten a good start, it would have felt like only seventy runs for them on the board. But they fought well tonight. They are a good side. They really are a good side, they just haven’t clicked yet,” he said.
Steyns said there was no pressure on him when he went out to bat with Sunrisers needing another 15 runs to win.
“There wasn’t really any pressure to be honest with you. You either going to win or you are going to lose so it’s one of the two things. I just want to put bat on ball and try and score the runs. Luckily we didn’t have to score more than six runs per over so it was really just bat on ball and it was really was just our game to lose,” he said.
The South African said the win against Daredevils will stand in good stead after they suffered a crushing win against Royal Challangers. Steyn feels Sunrisers bat deep down the order and it will be their key strength this season.
“You win one game with a lot of fighting spirit and then you win another one and there is a little bit of belief that creeps in. We lost the game the other night to RCB where I thought Virat (Kohli) batted particularly well. Then tonight again it was good all round performance, everybody contributed again we batted all the way down to No 9 and everyone went out there and did their part to win the game. So it’s been the strength of our side where everybody has contributed where they can to win a cricket game,” he said.
Steyn has been leading the attack for quiet some time and said he plans his four overs according to the situation.
“It is difficult. You have to read the game a little bit and we don’t plan that I am going to bowl two upfront and then I am going to bowl one in the 15th or 18th over. There is no kind of real planning we just kind of have the idea that I am going to maybe bowl two over’s upfront and try and take a wicket, and then the next over’s really depends on whether the captain wants a wicket so I come back and bowl whether we want to try and defend at the death so. It all depends on the day,” he said.
The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by authors, news service providers on this page do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of Hill Post. Any views or opinions are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual.
Hill Post makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site page.
