I thought I would never bowl again: Steyn

Ace South African pacer Dale Steyn has opened up about the times when he thought that he would never be able to bowl again.

The 35-year struggled with a series of injuries for nearly two years which raised several doubts on his comeback.

The pacer, however, revived strongly and finished the recently-concluded three-match ODI series against Australia as the highest wicket-taker (7 with an economy rate of 3.48) for his team.

"Not so long ago I didn't think that I would be playing cricket again. When I broke my shoulder I had this real drive to come back, but it took a long time. It took a solid six months before I could bowl again and I kept joking with my physio saying it was like U9 pace ... I could get my arm over but there was no momentum," Sport24 quoted Steyn, as saying.

"I knew that once I started playing again it would be like riding a bike. I've done it for so long and I'm blessed with a very natural action and things come quite easy," he added.

When asked about his plans for the upcoming cricket World Cup, Steyn stated that his first priority is to get into the World Cup team and play well.

"The World Cup is still a long way away. I think right now my biggest influence in that World Cup side is to come in and really push buttons where I can," he said.

Steyn has played a total of 121 ODIs taking 192 wickets with an economy rate of 4.87 while in 88 Tests, he has scalped 421 wickets with an economy rate of 3.23.