Venkatesh Prasad
What’s happened to the Aussies? They seem to be doing the unthinkable, i.e. hiring an Indian player to coach their players. So far, Aussies have been coaching the countries around the world, and the profession of coaching was a veritable option for the retired players from the Aussie squad. Now, with the news coming in that Venkatesh Prasad is in contention to become the bowling coach for Australia, what would happen to the Aussie pride? After all, Aussies reveled in raw pace on the ground, but when they induct Venkatesh Prasad into their squad, their bowlers would indeed become a confused lot, as they would have to stop bowling pace. After all, Venky, as he is popularly called, is a swing bowler, more so a reverse swing bowler. If the Aussies employ him, they would have to make pitches that would be conducive to swing and reverse bowling.
Jokes apart, now let us analyze the primary reason for this change in the attitude of the Aussies. Well, for the last two-three series that they have played against India, it is the reverse swing that has done them in, and they do not seem to have any clue what so ever how to tackle this avatar of bowling. For the Aussies, it indeed is an avatar, and therefore to conquer this avatar they are zeroing in on Venky, whose name means the avatar of Lord Vishnu, the preserver. So, he is being chosen to deliver it for the Aussies. But for Venky it indeed would be an uphill task, a young bowlers in Australia are trained for raw pace, and Venky does not believe in pace at all, rather he is enamored of the swinging abilities of the ball to deliver the results.
Ricky Ponting in particular has been tormented by the reverse swing, and before he hangs his boots, it must be his inane desire to defeat Indians in Australia and then bid the cricketing world good bye. But the moot point is, while Aussie batsmen may not have a clue against reverse swing bowling, Indian batsmen are quite adept at playing it dexterously. It therefore could be an interesting development in the Aussie cricket to watch out for. Whether it becomes a moment of disruption for Cricket Australia would have to be seen when the time comes, but one thing is for sure Aussie cricket may never be the same again.
Tags: Aussies, Australia, Bowling Coach, CA, Cricket, Cricket Australia, Swing Bowler, Venkatesh Prasad, Venky
