IPL 5: Morne Morkel happy to be Delhi's first-change bowler

New Delhi: He has always opened the bowling for South Africa but speedster Morne Morkel isn't complaining at being used as a first-change bowler by his Indian Premier League (IPL) team Delhi Daredevils. "I am fine with it. The ball is still pretty new and I come to bowl in the third or fourth over. It doesn't matter whether I am opening the bowling or coming as one-change. I am happy to do any job for the guys or what the captain wants," Morkel said after Delhi beat Chennai Super Kings in an IPL match here on Tuesday night.

For Morkel, more than his own set of choices and preferences, the important thing is to keep winning. "I believe there is no need to change the winning recipe. The current strategy is working for us. I am fine if I am given the new ball but there are two ways of attack. One should have a different gameplan for different conditions," the 27-year-old, who has been the leading wicket-taker for his franchise with seven scalps from three games, said.

The spearhead of the Delhi's attack admitted that inclusion of Kevin Pietersen and Mahela Jayawardene bolstered the side as their 61-run third wicket partnership helped them cruise to an easy win. "It was important to start off well at home and also come back to winning ways after the game against RCB [Royal Challengers Bangalore]. Luckily, we have pulled through. We had guys [Pietersen and Jayawardene] coming in with that extra bit of energy that we needed. Preparation in the last couple of days has been superb going into the match."

The two matches that Delhi have won so far saw heavy downpour a few hours prior to the start of the match and the pacers got a lot of help, but Morkel doesn't want to read too much into it. "We have summed up the conditions pretty well. The key is to communicate well as a bowling unit as in what should be the length to bowl."

The trend in the IPL so far has been that the captains winning the toss have opted to bowl first and Morkel finds a definite logic behind it. "It's quite nice if you can strike a couple of wickets early on and put the batting team under pressure and try to chase a low total. I believe there are pitches where it's difficult to score and chasing might prove to be a lot easier."

Morkel, the Man of the Match against Chennai, also praised his fielders for the kind of effort they have put in. "It's an important thing for us to be strong on the field and back the bowlers up. This will put the batting team under pressure as it may be tough sometimes to score. If they can't get the ball away due to great fielding, it's awesome for the bowling team. I thank the support staff who have made the boys work really hard as this was one area where we needed to improve."