I am satisfied with my effort: Mundhe

As the ball crashed into Subramaniam Badrinath's stumps, Shrikant Mundhe said he experienced a wave of satisfaction. "In my entire spell, this was the ball that came out the best. The way I set up Badrinath was very encouraging. I bowled a couple of outswingers and then surprised him with a faster inswinger which landed exactly where I wanted it to," said

Mundhe who bowled with the new ball after Tamil Nadu won the toss and opted to bat said that he felt no pressure as he bowled to two batsmen who not long ago had featured for the Indian national team. "I was very relaxed and since the time I have started playing cricket, I haven't really cared about who I am bowling to. I just concentrated on hitting the right lengths and getting the ball to move and at the end of the day I am satisfied with my effort," said Mundhe. He finished with three wickets for 38 runs at an economy of 2.23 from the 17 overs he bowled. Mundhe's first spell of seven overs, yielded, three wickets for just 10 runs.

The 24-year-old who made his debut five years ago against the same opposition, did not play Maharashtra's season opener against Uttar Pradesh in Pune. Was he a little intimidated by the fact that he was drafted into the team to face a strong Tamil Nadu side? "I always knew that I would not play all the matches. We have good fast bowlers and there will be rotation. However, I had decided to grab the opportunity whenever it was presented to me," he said.

Mundhe who accounted for Murali Vijay with his second ball, bowling a lethal outswinger which kissed Vijay's outside edge said that the wicket gave him the confidence to try out a few things. "Once I had gotten Vijay, I started out trying a few variations. I tried to vary my pace and also altered my length. The yorker I bowled to Mukund to trap him leg before was part of the plan," he said.

... contd.

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