Dubai: T. A. Sekar, the former Indian pacer who has shaped the careers of many top fast bowlers around the world as the chief coach of the MRF Pace Foundation, is the cricket operations manager of the Delhi Daredevils team.
Daredevils is being talked about as one of the strongest teams in the Indian Premier League and they open their campaign today against Rajasthan Royals at the Feroz Shah Kotla, which is their home ground.
"Our team is a multi-skilled team. We did a lot of homework before picking our players and we are confident that our team can challenge the best," remarked Sekar to Gulf News.
Elaborating on his team's abilities, Sekar said: "We have Virender Sehwag and Shoaib Malek who can bat and bowl and Daniel Vettori who can bowl as well as bat. Moreover, our team is a young side which will be good in fielding."
'Exciting young players'
"We have some exciting young players who can also bat and bowl. Rajat Bhatia is a promising player who has the potential to play for India but unfortunately has not got the breaks at the right time."
"Seventeen-year-old Pradeep Sam is another player who performed very well for the India Under-19 team and will soon break into the senior team. With players like Glenn McGrath and Mohammad Asif our squad is a good mixture of experience and youth," he said.
Sekar has been responsible for the success of some young pacers of the team while working with Australian legend Dennis Lillee as coach at the MRF Pace Foundation. Lillee has also joined the team as their bowling consultant.
"Yo Mahesh is a fine bowler who may soon open the bowling for India. McGrath's presence is a big boost for some of the young bowlers. Though McGrath has retired, he still has the fire in his belly," said Sekar.
Sekar is also hopeful that some of the young Indian stars like Dinesh Karthik and Gautam Gambhir will play crucial roles.
"Karthik is a thinking cricketer and Gambhir is a prolific run getter in the Twenty20 version. Fortunately for our team, Sehwag has regained his form at the right time. Already our opponents have started thinking of how to get Sehwag out and how to attack him. We wanted such a thinking process to get started. It is very clear that opponents are worried about our team," concluded Sekar.
