Sekar, McGrath confident at end of Daredevils preparatory camp

New Delhi, April 7: Delhi Daredevil’s manager, T A Sekar, and legendary star Glenn McGrath exuded a lot of confidence at the end of the short preparatory camp held for the team in Delhi.

The week-long preparatory camp conducted to get the Delhi Daredevils warmed up and ready for the Indian Premier League 2009, concluded at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds on Tuesday. The 12 players who were part of the camp are all leaving for South Africa on Wednesday morning.

Tuesday’s practice session also witnessed McGrath and hard-hitting David Warner practice alongside the team. McGrath and Warner arrived in India on Saturday, April 4, 2009.

Also seen in action was Indian medium pacer Ashish Nehra.  Nehra who recently tied the knot with his girlfriend of six years, took time off his honeymoon period to practice with the Delhi Daredevil’s squad and get into the scheme of things for what promises to be a very competitive tournament.  Nehra who played for Mumbai Indians last season was bought over by Delhi to strengthen their bowling line-up.

“We are looking forward to the second edition of the Indian Premier League,” said McGrath. “The wickets in South Africa are pretty much like those back home in Australia and I hope to impart my knowledge and experience of bowling on tracks such as those to the younger members of the team,” he added. 

“Personally, I had a bowl today and things looked good.  Over the past one year, I have worked on my general fitness at the gym and swimming pool and feel I am in good shape to be able to deliver the goods for the Daredevils,” smiled the legendary fast bowler. 

“We have concentrated on improving our options on the bowling front,” said TA Sekar, Team Manager, Delhi Daredevils.  “Boys like Yo Mahesh, Aavishkar Salvi and Umesh Yadav will get to learn a lot from McGrath and Nehra.  Mahesh is a fast improved bowler since last season, while Salvi is a tricky customer courtesy his whippy wrist action.  Umesh Yadav is genuinely quick and can prove to be more than a handful on the South African tracks,” he added. 

“We have a strong batting line-up. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir at the start and then the explosive David Warner. If they get along the 20 overs will be taken care off and we can post a big total. The top order can destroy any bowling line-up in the league.  With a pool of names like AB de Villiers, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Manoj Tiwary, Dilshan Tillakaratne and Dinesh Karthik to chose from, the batting seems really spoilt for choice. It will be a headache for the captain and coach on who to leave out,” said Sekar with smile.

“The spin department will rest in the hands of Kiwi Captain Daniel Vettori and Indian test player Amit Mishra,” added Sekar, who was confident of the team going better than the semi-final place last year.