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'The new ball helps me a lot'
In the absence of Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar, the burden of leading the Indian attack against the West Indies in the ongoing One-Day International series has fallen on R Vinay Kumar and the pacer said that he is relishing this new role.
"It feels great to be leading the Indian attack. (Bowling with) the new ball suits me very well because I am more a swing bowler and the new ball helps me a lot," he said on Wednesday, on the eve of the fourth ODI.
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Vinay has taken five wickets so far in the first three games of the five-match ODI series at an impressive average of 21.80, the best among the Indian bowlers. He has a career average of 34.18 from 14 ODIs.
Vinay feels that the new ICC rule from October 1 that different balls will be used from the two ends in the one-dayers, has helped swing bowlers like him to move the ball for longer periods.
"It (The rule) definitely helps the swing bowlers. Normally it used to stop swinging after a few overs. Now it keeps swinging till 15 overs. If there is no dew then the ball will reverse," he said.
'I would love to play Test cricket'
Vinay, meanwhile, refused to talk about the cold shoulder given to him by the selectors while selecting the Test team despite his consistent performance for his state team Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy where he has grabbed 241 wickets over the last seven seasons.
"No, I don't want to say anything about that (ignored for Tests). Definitely, I would love to play Test cricket and hope my day will come," said the fast bowler, whose younger Karnataka team-mate Abhimanyu Mithun had already played Tests for India ahead of him and is now also included in the touring squad to Australia later this month.
The 27-year-old Davangare-born bowler said that the track prepared for the fourth One-dayer appeared to be in the batsmen's favour.
"There is some grass. It looks to be a batting wicket," he said.
Vinay dismissed suggestions that the Indian team was a bit down after the 16-run loss in the third match against the West Indies at Ahmedabad on December 5.
"It has had no effect on the team. All are eager to play and do well in this game," he insisted.