Kevon Cooper seeks to strike every time

More often than not, Kevon Cooper strikes for the Rajasthan Royals’ and accounts for wickets in the middle and death overs. In the contest against Kings XI Punjab, once again the tall pacer from the Caribbean took rear guard toll with James Faulkner after S Sreesanth and Siddharth Trivedi lopped off the top order to help set up the game for the home team. The 24-year old has been an important cog in the Royals’ squad since his inclusion in the team last year and has claimed wickets in all of RR’s three wins in the Pepsi Indian Premier League 2013 so far. (Alsos Read: RR vs KXIP - M18 Report & Stats: IPL 2013)

On Sunday evening at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, as the pace battery ran through the opposition line-up, Cooper trapped Azhar Mahmood and sent back Piyush Chawla to help restrict KXIP a few runs short of what they would have liked. 

Although he refrained from sharing the key to his success, a confident Cooper said is happy to do the job for the team and lauded his fellow pacers who once again bowled in tandem for the Royals while speaking to iplt20.com. 

Excerpts from the interview:

On the pace battery doing it once again for the Rajasthan Royals’ at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium?

Yes, I must say well bowled. The bowlers did very well as a team. So I must say well done to them. We struggled a bit later on but that is cricket. I like the way the guys applied themselves and went over there and played. 

On being able to get the breakthroughs when handed the ball? 

My job is to get wickets through the middle there and every time Rahul gives me the ball I feel welcome to take the ball and get wickets for my team. I am happy to do whatever my team wants me to do and hopefully I can continue doing a good job. 

On the secret to his success 

It is just working hard in the nets and knowing my strengths, knowing my weakness and knowing my ability. Doing my tricks, hopefully I can continue for Rajasthan Royals and hopefully this time around we can qualify in the top four. 

On what goes through his mind every time Rahul hands him the ball 

The guys believe in me, Rahul believes in me a lot. I am capable of getting wickets and every time I get the ball in my hand I just want to do well and as I said, I hope to continuing going from strength to strength and helping Rajasthan Royals. 

On Sreesanth and Trivedi setting-up the game 

In T20 getting wickets upfront always puts the pressure on the players and batters to come. So I must say well done to the bowlers for getting wickets at the top today and hopefully we can go from strength to strength. 

On Faulkner being a good addition and today also he wrapped up things well

Fulkner coming in adds something special to the team with his left-arm bowling and also with his batting and fielding. He is a great player for us. I wish him all the best and hopefully he continues getting wickets and hopefully we do well. 

On what it was like for batting 

A bit difficult; the wicket had a bit of grass on it and was doing a little bit once you put the ball in the correct areas. You knew you would get the results. And for us, we got the early wickets and really put them under pressure and I think that is the key to twenty20 cricket. We have a couple of wicket takers in our team and I must say well done to the guys again. 

You did will well to come back from a loss

After losing in Pune we were a bit disappointed with our performance. But as the coach said, once we do things correctly we will get the results. Whoever really performs on that day and does the correct things most of the time will come out on top. We know our strengths, we know the team we have and what we are capable of doing and I think we can upset plenty of teams. 

On difficulty and challenges while bowling in the death overs

Bowling in the death is difficult for any bowler. You are nervous and you want to get it right and with the batsman going at you (it is a) pressure situation. But for me, to come out controlling the nerves out there and to come out on top, I have done that job for my team. 

On what he tells himself to be able to stay calm

As I run up to bowl I know what I want to do and where I want to put the ball and it just works for me. 

source: iplt20.com