Training ground for perfect pace

In the second India-South Africa cricket Test last week at Bengaluru the hosts reached a commanding position by the close of play. Though the spinners took all but one wicket on that day, the lasting image from the rain-affected Test would most probably be fast bowler Varun Aaron’s dismissal of South African captain Hashim Amla, his off-stump and middle-stump sent cart-wheeling with a 140-plus km delivery. That is what speed does when it is well-directed. 

Varun’s cricket journey has been dotted with inconsistencies and if there is one place that he would keep coming back that is the MRF Pace Foundation. At the other end is the romantic relationship between Sachin Tendulkar and the MRF Pace Academy. Long before he was to turn MRF’s brand ambassador in the 1990s, Sachin had approached the academy in his attempt to be a fast bowler and was promptly sent away by none other than Dennis Lillee, the academy’s main coach then. The Aussie reportedly advised the 15-year-old Sachin to concentrate on his batting instead. 

In a fitting gesture, the academy recently sent out an invitation to the batting legend to come down to Chennai and talk to the trainees. This was initiated by the current chief coach Glenn McGrath and Sachin obliged him by spending a day with those trainees. From a humble beginning in 1987, the pace foundation blossomed under the tutelage of Lillee to be rated as the most prominent academy for the speedsters all over the world. 

Today the academy has a former Indian batsman M Senthilnathan as its chief coach with McGrath by periodically visiting the centre. Yet it is interesting to note that Sachin’s lecture on the day of his visit to the foundation touched on how a batsman looked at pace bowling and made adjustments to tackle it. Who else is better qualified than Sachin with 30000 international runs from 100 centuries under his belt and who better to complete the project with his inputs on how to bowl, other than Glenn McGrath? 

The foundation still retains the Aussie way of thinking in fast bowling, something which Lillee emphasised and something which McGrath has carried forward. Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee…the list of fast bowlers who have honed their skills at MRF Pace Foundation shows it is truly a global university.