As he progressed from playing in the under-19 age-group to competing in India’s domestic circuit, to now plying his trade in the Pepsi Indian Premier League, Sandeep Sharma’s ability to swing the ball has earned him plenty of recognition. An integral part of the Kings XI Punjab team, he has been the team’s new-ball bowling option alongside Anureet Singh in Pepsi IPL 2015. Defending 155 run in their last match at the MCA International Stadium in Pune, Sandeep had kept the Kings XI Punjab in the reckoning by claiming the wickets of Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Gautam Gambhir and Ryan ten Doeschate upfront.

His inspired spell had left the Kolkata Knight Riders reeling at 60 for five before Andre Russell went berserk and helped the visitors across the line.The young KXIP pacer who completed his spell with a double-wicket maiden, finished with career-best figures of four for 25 as KXIP attempted to defend a competitive score. While talking to iplt20.

com, Sandeep spoke about his wickets in the game and bowling so far in the Pepsi IPL. Excerpts from the interview:Disappointing loss? Despite the five early wickets, your team wasn’t able to finish the job.Actually credit goes to (Andre) Russell; he batted really well.

We were a few runs short (but) we made the effort (to defend it), but we couldn’t pull off a win. So we are disappointed. One can’t say that the bowling wasn’t good enough or the batting wasn’t good enough.

It is a team game, the team has lost. Hopefully we can do better in the next game. You have been bowling your overs upfront this season so far.

What has been the reasoning? It depends on the captain. He feels that I can take wickets in that phase. The ball was swinging and today there were left-hand batsmen at the crease.

My natural swing is in-swing and the captain felt I can take Gauti paaji’s (Gautam Gambhir) wicket and luckily I got his wicket and the next batsman’s wicket too. It wasn’t so much about luck, but planning too. Virender Sehwag was saying something to you before you got the wicket.

Can you share what was discussed?He has lot of experience. He was telling me ‘if we don’t take wickets we will lose. So don’t be afraid of getting hit and go for the wickets.

We can win only if we take wickets’. So he was telling me to bowl with an attacking mindset and attacking lines and lengths, try to get him to edge the ball or hit his pads. (Plan was to) try to get him out.

‘Don’t bowl defensively at this time’, is what he told me. You claimed the key wicket of Robin Uthappa upfront, what were your plans for him?I had just thought of backing my strength which is swinging the ball from good areas. So I backed myself and I got the wicket.

After being hit for couple of fours you dismissed Manish Pandey too. What did you tell yourself after being hit?T20 is harsh on the bowlers and you get hit for runs, you can’t avoid that. You should always attack and try for wickets.

When you do that you will be able to bowl a few dot balls too and put the opposition under pressure. I was trying to do that. How has it been sharing the new ball with Anureet Singh?It is good.

He is bowling well too. We have different styles of bowling; I pitch it a bit fuller while he hits it back-of-length a bit. We talk and discuss a lot during the net sessions and otherwise too.

We discuss that we should try to bowl dot balls but at the same time try for wickets as well. What has your interaction with Mitchell Johnson been like?With him the discussion is more on the mental aspect of bowling, like even if you are getting hit how you should remain focused on the next ball. He talks about how you should switch your focus on, what you are going to do next and how to prepare for matches.

He has spoken about how to maintain a positive body language regardless of how your day is. Disappointing to miss out on a hat-trick?I’ve been on a hat-trick a few times in the IPL but it hasn’t happened yet; hopefully next time. Joe Dawes said that you have been working on bowling in the death overs as well.

Can you elaborate?It’s about practice and that is what I have been doing. I have worked hard on that aspect. What are the variations that you have added to your armoury?Yorkers, round the stump yorkers, over the stump yorkers.

I have also added a variety of slower delivery about which I won’t reveal much. You have become integral to the KXIP bowling line-up. How do you feel?It is a dream come true.

We have been seeing the league from a young age and to be part of it and perform makes me very happy. This was your last home match in Pune. What are your thoughts shifting base?This is an exciting place.

The crowd support was good and it felt good to play here. .

Source: http://www.iplt20.com/news/2015/features/6091/difficult-to-bowl-to-maxwell-umesh-yadav