Pacer Ryan McLaren turned in a superlative effort for South Africa in the first Twenty20 game against West Indies in Antigua on Wednesday and he has the Mumbai Indians connection to thank for it
Pacer Ryan McLaren turned in a superlative effort for South Africa in the first Twenty20 game against West Indies in Antigua on Wednesday and he has the Mumbai Indians connection to thank for it.
Chasing 137, West Indies were dismissed for 123 with McLaren taking five for 19, the second-best figures in Twenty20 internationals after Umar Gul's five for six.
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Mclaren had a decent stint with the Mumbai Indians in this year's IPL where the team finished runners-up but it's the work he did with Director of Cricket and former India fast bowler, TA Sekar that seems to be bearing fruits now.
"Earlier, he was pushing the ball into a right-hander but after he worked on the action, the ball started to hold its line and also move away a bit. When he was leaving, he had told me that he was feeling very comfortable with the new action and would keep working on it. I am glad he did well in the game. We could even see the improvement in his bowling during the IPL," said Sekar.
A five-wicket haul is quite rare in T20 with McLaren only the fourth bowler to do so. Sekar felt this performance will help McLaren get even better.
"He is bowling much better now and the IPL experience has helped him a lot. He's also an intelligent T20 bowler and has variations. In T20, a bowler might get a five-wicket haul probably once in his career. McLaren has got it early on and that will make him more confident and a better bowler,'" Sekar said.
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