Mumbai: Indian pace sensation Kamlesh Nagarkoti on Monday said that he wants to follow senior pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami and tried to out himself in their shoes to deal with a tough situation.
“I keep Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami in mind whenever there is a particularly tricky situation facing me,” Nagarkoti said in an interaction with the reporters after he arrived from New Zealand with the India U-19 team.
“I try to think how they would have bowled and try emulate that. I haven’t met them yet, hopefully in the coming days I will get a chance to chat with them,” he added.
Nagarkoti, who was one of India’s main pace bowlers in their World Cup triumph with nine wickets at an average of 16.33 also said that he is looking forward to do well first in the Vijay Hazare trophy and then the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“I am focused now on playing the one-day matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and then the IPL later. I’ll try to do well in both. I will try not to let up on speed, but will try to bowl according to the situation,” he said.
His bowling partner Shivam Mavi, who too had a great tournament said that he is looking to perform well in the IPL to make his case strong for a place in the India A team.
“Looking forward to the IPL. It opens up a lot of opportunities. It’s a good platform to showcase our talent and make a case for India A or other senior domestic tournaments.
“In the IPL I would like to focus on line and length rather than speed. There even if you bowl over 160kph, you still might get hit. My dream is consistently bowl over 150kph,” Mavi added, who also like Nagarkoti took nine wickets in the tournament.
The Nagarkoti-Mavi duo led the Indian attack in the World Cup and clocked 145 kmph in the tournament.
“I did not expect bowling that fast. This was the second time that I have managed to clock such a high speed. I had done it once in England, so this was the second time,” Nagarkoti said.
He also added, “While pace was in focus, (bowling coach) Paras Mhambrey sir taught us how to bowl in the right areas. That was our main focus.”
Mavi however said that when he clocked 145 kmph, coach Rahul Dravid told him to focus more on line and length.
“When I clocked 145, Rahul sir told us to not get carried away with the number. He asked to keep our focus on the line and length,” Mavi said.
“Paras sir asked us to focus on accuracy. He tried to explain to us that despite pace there is a chance of leaking runs. With pace, control is vital,” he added.
When asked as to whether he surprised himself by bowling at 145 kmph, Mavi said, “I wouldn’t say I was surprised. Three years ago, I realised that I was clocking around 135 then. It dawned on me that my pace was always on the higher side.
“As I kept bowling I knew the speed was improving, so it didn’t come as a shock when I did clock over 145.”
He also said that he worked on perfecting his yorkers.
“I worked on the yorker in particular. In the slog overs, if even a few boundaries can be contained it makes a major impact on the game. So yorkers were key and I kept trying to aim at bowling as many as possible with accuracy.”
Nagarkoti also mentioned that bowling with Mavi has helped him a lot.
“I started playing since 7th-8th. Bowling in tandem with Shivam (Mavi) worked quite well for us. It was a great experience. When your partner is bowling well and supporting you, then bowling in that flow was quite satisfying,” he said.