Delhi Daredevils underused me and didn’t back my skills : Pawan Negi

 

Pawan Negi the slow left-arm orthodox bowler who was roped in by Delhi daredevils with a mind-boggling deal of 8.50 crore, Negi was the most expensive Indian buy in an otherwise low-key IPL season 9 player’s auction. Now that  the Indian Premier League 2016 is finished, the 23-year-old who bowled just nine overs in the eight matches he played and bagged just one wicket apart from scoring mere 57 runs with the bat, justify his million dollar buy.

 

In an interview to Asian Age, Negi said “I was underused by the franchise and i wasn’t clear about my role in the side which was one of the reasons for my poor show during the tournament.”

 

Even Negi had no clue on Daredevils continuous chopping and changing in the playing eleven as he said “Sitting on the bench was hard to digest as I never expected to watch the action from the sidelines. I was mentally down, but I didn’t lose hope. After the season, T.A. Sekhar and our manager Sunil Valson pepped me up saying that I didn’t get enough opportunities to showcase my abilities. The hardest part was, before every match, I had no clue whether I would play or not.”

 

Talking about what probably went wrong with him in the tournament the Delhi born Spinner said “I kept wondering why wasn’t I given more opportunities. And the team management didn’t tell me the reason either. When I was with CSK, Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) backed my abilities. Maybe, I feel Delhi didn’t back my skills with bat and ball. Maybe, it was a rotation policy, because I was never told that I was dropped.”

 

Talking about his future plans Negi said “Though I’m a very positive person, I would say this IPL ended on a negative note for me. I wasn’t surprised a bit that I didn’t make the cut for the Zimbabwe series because I didn’t perform well in the IPL. Now, I will practice hard for the upcoming Ranji season.” concluded Negi.