EXCLUSIVE | IPL Taught Me How To Adapt To Situations, Says Delhi Capitals Pacer Mukesh Kumar

New Delhi: Remember Mukesh Kumar sitting on the shoulders of Akash Deep as Bengal players do a victory lap after beating a star-studded Karnataka in the semifinals of 2019-20 Ranji Trophy at Eden Gardens?

Mukesh, the then 26-year-old, had just finished with eight wickets in that game, including a 6/61 in the second innings, with the likes of KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair and Devdutt Padikkal among his scalps. Mukesh has caught the selector’s eye.

Although Bengal didn’t lift the trophy, losing to Saurashtra in the summit clash, the Bengal pacer finished the season with 32 wickets from 10 matches including two five wicket hauls. The next few years have been nothing but a roller-coaster ride for the boy from Bihar’s Gopalganj.

With not much cricket played in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic, Mukesh started 2022 from where he left two years ago. He took two five-wicket hauls for India A in the unofficial Tests against New Zealand and Bangladesh, got his maiden national team call-up against South Africa at home, got a Rs 5.5 crore paycheck from Delhi Capitals for IPL 2023 and flew to England as one of India’s standby players for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia.

“I have worked hard to be at this level,” Mukesh told India.com in an exclusive interview from his Kolkata home. “I have prepared hard all these years but there is still a long way to go.” While Mukesh still awaits his maiden India cap, he got a bit of international flavour during the IPL in his debut season for the Delhi franchise.

First steps towards a bright career

Congratulations on making it to the #TeamIndia squad as a standby for the #WTCFinal #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/MArX1dApPV

— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) May 8, 2023

Takeaways From IPL 2023

With seven wickets from 10 matches for Delhi Capitals, it wasn’t a perfect start for the Bengal seamer in the world’s richest league, instead he was exposed to pressure situations which was a big bonus.

“Whatever roles I was given by the team – defending 11 runs in the last over against Sunrisers Hyderabad and containing Andre Russell (vs KKR) to 20 runs from my 11 balls – these moments were very crucial for me as a bowler.

“This is my first year in IPL. I was a net bowler before and gave several trials. I would say my performance in IPL 2023 was average, not too good and not too bad also. Overall I would say, IPL 2023 gave me important learning which I can carry forward in future,” he said.

There wasn’t a particular role for Mukesh at Delhi Capitals. With his pace and toe-crushing in-swinging yorkers impressing the management that consisted the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting, he was given the tough overs to bowl during the game. Also situation training with Ishant Sharma helped the now 29-year-old.

Dil aur match, dono jeet liya aaj Mukesh bhai ke yorkers ne #YehHaiNayiDilli #IPL2023 #SRHvDC pic.twitter.com/7hpvEu8lyN

— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) April 24, 2023

“They observed that I had pace and was pitching my yorkers perfectly, so I got one over in the powerplay, one in the middle overs and two at the end. So if you see, I used to get the tough overs and I took it up as a challenge and told myself that ‘I would deliver in these situations’.

“During the training sessions, Ishant used to give me situations and targets to improve my bowling and we used to wok out strategies,” he said. Unlike his peers, Mukesh came into the limelight a bit late but that doesn’t deter Mukesh, instead he is happy with what god has given him so far.

T20 Cricket Is All About ‘Chakkugiri’

With just a week gap between IPL 2023 final and the WTC final, switching from one format to other often gets quite difficult for any cricketer. Mukesh thinks otherwise. “In red ball cricket, it is all about patience and one needs to wait for the opponent to make a blunder.

“As far as white ball cricket is concerned, especially in T20s, it’s all about ‘Chakkugiri’. In the shortest format, the mantra for success is how you adapting to the situation. IPL taught me how to adapt to the situations,” he added.

While the top stars are enjoying the month-long break with their families, Mukesh will be seen in action for East Zone in the Duleep Trophy 2023 in Bengaluru from June 28. With reports stating several top pacers are likely to get some rest against West Indies, a solid display in the zonal tournament might see Mukesh flying to Caribbean and even get his maiden India cap.