Trinidad: India debutant Mukesh Kumar has won praise after the right-arm pacer claimed his first Test wicket on a rain interrupted day of the second Test against the West Indies on Saturday.
Mukesh claimed the wicket of fellow debutant Kirk McKenzie for 32 on a day that saw the West Indies show plenty of fight with the bat in Trinidad, as the hosts frustrated India to go to stumps at 229/5 and still trailing by 209 in the final ICC World Test Championship match of the series.
While veteran spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja did the bulk of the bowling on Saturday, Mukesh showed enough on debut through 14 overs to show he has a future in red-ball cricket as he got the wicket of McKenzie and then was entrusted to partner Mohammed Siraj with the second new ball later in the day.
Mukesh found some swing with that new ball and India's bowling coach Paras Mhambrey was impressed with the efforts of the 29-year-old.
"I think he bowled very well," Mhambrey said at the close of play.
"Given the conditions the way he has gone about putting everything behind the ball that is very heartening to see and that is what is expected from him and from the team management this is what we wanted. Just to give his best and this is what he has done.
"I am extremely happy with the progress he has shown from the first ball of the first session he bowled, to the second new ball where he showed some signs of moving the new ball it was real quality stuff."
While the pitch in Trinidad has played very few tricks over the first three days, Mhambrey saw enough during the final session on Saturday to believe India can still claim the upper hand and register a series-clinching victory.
"I think the first session (on Sunday) will be important," Mhambrey said.
"To see the way we swung the ball in the last session right now, both Siraj and Mukesh came in and swung the ball and troubled the batters and there were a couple of close calls out there.
"Looking at that, I think the first session in the morning and even the first hour is going to be crucial.
"If we pick up a couple of wickets is opens up the match for us and we can take the game forward and see where we are. What we look for from the bowlers is to hit the right areas, show some patience and make the batters play." (UNI)
