The Kolkata Knight Riders cantered to a comprehensive win but it wasn’t a smooth ride all the way. The defending champions were left reeling at 60 for five chasing the 156-run target before Andre Russell and Yusuf Pathan took them over the finish line. However, it was courtesy the Umesh Yadav-led attack, that KKR didn’t have a mountainous task to overcome.

While the spinners kept the Kings XI Punjab batsmen in check after Gautam Gambhir had elected to bowl, the pace trio of Yadav and co. had applied the brakes with some key wickets. Umesh Yadav claimed Murali Vijay upfront and the explosive Glenn Maxwell, besides later sending back Gurkeerat Singh Mann to keep the hosts to a reasonable score.

Speaking to iplt20.com, the pacer spoke about drawing on the experience from being with the Indian team, bowling with Morne Morkel and learning from Wasim Akram. Excerpts from the interview:What would say about the target and the run-chase?When we first saw the wicket we thought it was quick and there would be something for the fast bowler.

But when I walked there and bowled the first ball, I realised that it is not the kind of wicket that we thought it would be. I am a fast bowler and I have the ability to swing, so I was trying to bowl on the length only. I was just trying to swing the ball for first two-three overs and get wickets.

And I got the first wicket (in the very first over). Every time I came back to bowl my thoughts were to get wickets and give the team breakthroughs. You got the important wickets, one of them being Glenn Maxwell.

How had you planned for him?It is difficult to bowl to him because when he comes to bat he just moves too much from the wicket, sometimes to the off-side or sometimes to the leg-side. So it is difficult to bowl to him. But I knew and I was confident that when he moves I will not follow him but I will just I keep at the wicket only.

So my target was to bowl at the three stumps only so whenever he is going down the leg I am bowling at the wicket. And when he came towards the off-stump I was trying to vary the deliveries, bowl a slower one or yorker, whichever is required. So I bowled the slower ball and got him.

That’s the variation, because there wasn’t much in the wicket if you didn’t get the yorker perfect you would get hit for a six. The wicket was flat and good for batting. The ball was coming on to the bat nicely; so whatever variations I had I backed myself to bowl one length and one area.

What had you planned to restrict the opposition to?We planned that if we can restrict them to around 150 it would be easier for our batsmen. So we were focusing on that. And we were able to restrict them to around that mark, which was good because the wicket was flat.

We are happy to have restricted them to 155. What were your plans for Murali Vijay? You have spent time in the Indian dressing room with him. Did that help?We have spent a lot of time together in the nets recently.

So I am aware of his strengths and weaknesses. I had planned that if he moves away from the leg-stump I will not bowl outside the off-stump but attack him by bowling at his body and I did that. I bowled at his body and I got him.

If you have a plan and you can execute it at the right time, then you are successful and get a wicket. Otherwise you will go for runs. I am glad I could do what I had planned.

How has it been opening the bowling with Morne Morkel?We form a good combination because my job is to swing the ball and get the batsman out on the length ball, by getting him to drive. Morne has height and can get the bounce, so he tries bowling back of a length and bowling at the batsman’s body.I have pace but also swing.

So I try bowl to the batsman in one area, make it difficult for him and to get him play every ball so I can have a chance of getting him out caught behind or trap him lbw. Morne Morkel has pace and hits the ball at a good length. But for most batsmen his ball rises to the chest level, so it is not easy to hit him from there and that gets him wickets.

Our job is to get wickets upfront and that is what we have done. You have now been able to combine pace and swing. How have you worked on it?Initially it was difficult.

I could swing but sometimes it would be wayward. I learnt a lot when I went to play in the World Cup. Bharat Arun Sir helped and Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) supported me too and the other players - especially the batsmen - would tell me what the right lengths to bowl are and the areas to bowl.

And then I would focus on bowling in those areas or on that line. In that period of four odd months I learnt a lot of things because the good length also varies from country to country. In Australia you bowl back-of-length but you can’t do that here in India because it will bounce normally.

So I have just managed that (adjusting the length) and that worked. You have the best exponent of swing bowling, Wasim Akram, in the team to guide you. What have you learnt from him? I have learnt a lot from him.

I enjoy working with him. He talks about swing and controlling the ball. The more you are able to control the ball the better you will be able to control the swing.

So he tells me how to control the ball. For example, the wrist position - it should lock, the two main fingers should be behind the seam, and so on. Were there a few nervous moments after the fall of early wickets?At 60 for five, the dugout was a bit tense.

We had a good start and then we slipped to 60 for five. But we knew we had Andre (Russell) and Yusuf Pathan, so we were confident we could definitely chase the target..

Source: http://www.iplt20.com/news/2015/features/6094/lisa-and-her-love-for-the-microphone