The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : BCCI's `Spin Wing' set in motion

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 30, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

BCCI's `Spin Wing' set in motion

By Our Sports Reporter

KOLKATA, MAY 29. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has constituted a `Spin Wing' that will work on the specialised art of bowling separately as part of the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

A host of legendary spinners — Bishan Singh Bedi, E.A.S. Prasanna, V.V. Kumar, Ravi Shastri and Anil Kumble — comprise the `Spin Wing', which also has the NCA's chairman, Sunil Gavaskar, and director, Brijesh Patel, as ex-officio members. The BCCI secretary, S.K. Nair, will be the convenor.

Speaking after the first meeting of the `Spin Wing' here on Saturday, the BCCI president, Jagmohan Dalmiya, said, "now that the Spin Wing has been set in motion, the long lost glory of spin bowling will be revived soon. With former experts joining the initiative, I hope results will be coming in a year or two.''

Mr. Dalmiya said the members would visit the various age-group camps in the NCA to scout talent. The under-15 camp is already in progress, while the inter-zonal NCA tournament would be commencing shortly. This would be followed by camps for under-19, under-22 and `A' level cricketers.

While V.V. Kumar is already working on the under-15 boys, the NCA tournament and the other camps will be watched by Prasanna, Kumble, Padmakar Shivalkar and A. Raghuram Bhatt.

The BCCI proposes to shortlist around 200 players from these camps, of which spinners would be between 40-50. The identified spinners would be called for a four-week camp at Bangalore in September, where the chief coaches would be Bedi, Prasanna and Kumar. Kumble and Shastri will also visit the camp whenever they are "available''.

Mr. Dalmiya added that a "battery of batsmen'' would be selected to attend the nets during the spinners' camp, while a simultaneous camp for wicketkeepers would be arranged.

The committee also decided that the respective coaches of the affiliated units to which the selected spinners belong, would be called towards the end of the camp and given feedback on the players.

The NCA chairman, Sunil Gavaskar, said, "spin is an art that takes quite some time to be mastered. One month is not enough. We can guide a player with some tips, but he has to develop the art further by consulting senior professionals."

On the growing incidence of chucking issues, Gavaskar said camps like these were necessary for rectification of such cases and added that anybody with doubtful action would be given remedial ssistance.''

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