When TNPL stars helped international batsmen hone their skills

With a cyclone damaging the nets, it was rendered unusable but the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association acted swiftly to restore and rebuild the nets to help the players get some match practice.

Chepauk Super Gillies’ bowler R Alexander and Albert Tuti Patriots’ Siddharth Ahuja were beneficiaries of the restored net sessions. As the Indian and England batters trickled into the nets area, Alexander repeatedly tested them, as a net bowler, and helped them hone their skills. “They generally come between 8:30 and 9:30 in the morning and spend about 20 to 30 minutes in hitting some deliveries. I have flexed my arms to Cheteshwar Pujara, Ishant Sharma, Keaton Jennings and Liam Dawson over the last two days,” Alexander said.

It isn’t uncommon to see the batsmen deploy the sweep shot in the sub-continent conditions to tackle the spin. Many visiting batsmen have negated the spin threat by sweeping or using the variants of the shot. Even on Monday, triple-centurion Karun Nair got more than 25% of his runs by playing the sweep shot to perfection. “I have played the sweep shot almost all my life. You do have to practise a lot and work hard at it. It is my go-to shot whenever I need some boundaries. If the gaps are open for it, I go for it,” Nair said, after his mammoth triple-ton effort on Monday.

With England staring at a huge deficit, it wasn’t surprising to see Jennings walk out to bat in the nets early on Tuesday. After Siddharth bowled a couple of off-breaks, Jennings went up to him and asked him to bowl a little straighter. “He wanted to get some practice on sweeping the ball. I was straying down the line a little and he wanted me to get straight. He tried to sweep most of the balls and one got the leading edge too,” Siddharth said.

After a 15-minute session, Jennings enquired about any left-handed batsmen and gifted his gloves to one as a token of appreciation.

Indian team coach Anil Kumble was overseeing one such net session along and Alexander said Kumble gave him some tips which the left-arm spinner would cherish for life. “He asked me not to bend too much while bowling as it can affect the bounce I can generate. He was happy with my line and length and asked me to get more revolutions on the ball too. I have started to implement these little adjustments right away,” Alexander added.