ASIA CUP, 2018

India hired left-arm throwdown specialist with an eye on the future

by Prakash Govindasreenivasan • Published on

India's next big overseas project and its success could come down to how well they deal with Mitchell Starc this winter. © Getty

India captain Rohit Sharma praised BCCI's move to recruit Sri Lanka's Nuwan Seneviratne as a throwdown specialist, and reckoned it was move for the future. India have had a throwdown specialist in Raghuveer since 2011, who had previously done a stint at the NCA. He and batting coach Sanjay Bangar carry out the task of giving throw downs during India's nets, but now have a third member to their crew, who brings in much needed variety.

Seneviratne is a 38-year-old from Colombo who has two first-class matches to his name for Colombo Cricket Club. More importantly, he's left-handed and creates angles in the nets that the Indian batsmen were previously only used to in match situations.

"We saw him in Sri Lanka when we were playing there. Of course we have two right handers who do throwdowns for us, so we wanted to bring in that change because left-armers are important," Rohit Sharma said in a press conference on Monday (September 17). He would know the trouble of facing left-armers - most recently struggling against Pakistan's Mohammad Amir who he will go up against on Wednesday.

But this isn't just a fix for the short-term. Asia Cup is Seneviratne's first assignment with the Indian side but could well become a vital cog of travelling Indian teams. The one that just returned from England gave away 12 wickets to the 20-year-old Sam Curran. In the ODI series in England too, India were most troubled by their left-arm quick - David Willey - who picked five wickets and recorded second best economy rate (4.70) for the series across both sides, after Yuzvendra Chahal (4.50).

India's next big overseas project and its success could come down to how well they deal with Mitchell Starc, who again is a fantastic left-arm pacer.

"Looking at the future, we're going to be playing in Australia and they have quite a few left-arm bowlers. In Asia Cup as well we're going to be encountered with left-armers. I think it was a great move by BCCI to bring him in," Rohit said.

On Monday, Seneviratne put India's top-order to task, that will face a Pakistan line-up full of excellent left-arm fast bowlers on Wednesday. "He seems to be quite accurate with whatever he does. He's pretty good at his job and it is a great addition to the team," Rohit said.

© Cricbuzz

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