Duleep Trophy final | Our plan as fast bowlers was to let the batters take the risks: East pacer Mukesh Kumar

East Zone pacer Mukesh Kumar felt that there was enough on the surface for the quicks to keep the batters honest, provided they had the right tactics.

Despite bowling on a fresh MAC Stadium pitch on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy final, the South Zone fast bowlers were inconsistent and resorted to short-pitched stuff without much success.

In contrast, Mukesh and Mohammed Shami attacked the stumps and scalped four of the six wickets to fall on day three.

“I didn’t pitch it too full here. If I had bowled full, it would have invited cover drives and similar shots. So, pulling the length back slightly to back-of-a-length on this red soil [was important]. If you hit the deck hard and put effort into it, the ball kicks. We worked on that,” said Mukesh.

The Bengal speedster also stressed the need to maintain the ball, especially on red-soil pitches where it could get scuffed easily.

“Speaking for myself, the harder I pound the deck and hit the seam, the more the ball will kick, regardless of the wicket. The other part is working on the ball — applying sweat repeatedly, polishing it, and preparing it for reverse swing. We worked on that, and it gave us movement,” he added.

On his plans for Devdutt Padikkal, Mukesh explained: “It was to bowl stump-to-stump because we knew he was coming after scoring two centuries in Sri Lanka. On wickets like this, if you offer width to batters, runs will leak. Our plan as fast bowlers was to stay as consistent as possible and bowl dot balls, letting them take the risks. They would try to force the pace and get out because they need to score runs.”