In a bid to provide quality practice for the Indian batsmen at the nets ahead of the Asia Cup, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has sent five upcoming bowlers to Dubai as net bowlers for a period of three days.
Avesh Khan of Madhya Pradesh, Prasidh Krishna of Karnataka and Siddarth Kaul of Punjab are the three pacers while Punjab’s Mayank Markande and Jharkhand’s Shahbaz Nadeem form the spin duo. The decision to send the five bowlers comes in the wake of India featuring in back-to-back league games, against Hong Kong and Pakistan, on 18th and 19th September.
Barring Avesh, the other four were a part of the India A and B squads in the recently concluded Quadrangular series which also had A teams from Australia and South Africa.
Kaul was also a part of the senior team during the limited overs leg of the UK tour.
However, with the Vijay Hazare Trophy (National One-Dayers) starting from September 19, it is expected that the players will be sent back in time to represent their state teams.
“Not everywhere do you get quality net bowlers and it becomes a problem for the senior team during practice sessions. With back to back games, you don’t expect a Bhuvneshwar Kumar or a Jasprit Bumrah to bowl flat out at the nets. Also the young academy bowlers at times can’t provide quality practice. Hence we have got some of our next line of bowlers,” a senior BCCI said.
“This is a process that proves to be mutually beneficial for the team. While senior batsmen get quality practice, someone like a Mayank Markande can learn a lot by bowling at the India nets. Also the senior players and the coaches can only keep a tab on the talent pool,” he added.
The process was started before the tour of South Africa when the likes of Avesh, Basil Thampi were sent to South Africa for net sessions.
The BCCI has also called a left-arm throwdown expert from Sri Lanka named Nuwan Seneviratne, with specific aim of tackling Mohammed Amir’s fast paced incoming deliveries.
