Dubai: Find of last year's Indian Premier League, Mohit Sharma is enjoying the company of his new pace colleagues in the Chennai Super Kings team and said he was trying to take as much inputs as possible from senior colleagues like Ashish Nehra and Ben Hilfenhaus.
His performance in last year's IPL fast-tracked Mohit to international cricket, but the young Haryana pacer said having pace mates like young Ishwar Pandey, Nehra and Hilfenhaus in the team has immensely benefited him.
"Having Ishwar in the team has been really good for me because we know each other since the Under-19 days and are good friends. We understand each other as people and bowlers. That helps us both look after each other not only off but also on the field. We can give each other valuable inputs about one another's bowling during the match," Mohit said after returning with figures of one for 13 from his two overs in CSK's seven-run win over Rajasthan Royals in Dubai on Wednesday.
"Ashu bhaiya (Nehra) has been very involved with Ishwar and me. In the nets, after finishing his own practice, he comes and supervises our sessions and gives pretty handy advice. From his own experience he tells us what to do in specific situations and what to avoid," he said. "And Ben is a very good swing bowler and he bowls consistently at a good pace. I have been learning many things from him like how to grip the ball perfectly in order to swing it and also how to swing the old ball. He is also very good at maintaining the ball so it swings in the latter overs." The wickets in UAE are not considered as favourite haunting grounds for fast bowlers because of its slow nature but Mohit said the conditions prevalent here are quite similar to India.
"To be honest, it hasn't been much different from bowling on the Indian wickets. This one, in Dubai, I found particularly similar to the ones in India. I think the key is to bowl back-of-length and stick to the basics of T20," he said.
"I believe in order to be a reliable bowler, you have to be able to perform in every condition and any type of wicket. Also, even on helpful wickets, you have to run in hard and bowl well to pick wickets."
Mohit considers skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kiwi Brendon McCullum as the most dangerous batsmen in CSK's line-up. "It is Mahi (Dhoni) bhai. As a bowler, the first thing you are worried about is for him to hit the ball straight at you. After him, Brendon McCullum is the most dangerous," he said.
