Will TNCA’s talent hunt to address the State team’s bowling shortcomings pay off?

TN has identified 77 bowlers to address its lack of depth in the bowling dept. Over 3 months, the TNCA conducted selection trials at district level, followed by a 3-week camp with specialised coaches. The break-up is 30 medium pacers, 16 off-spinners, 16 leg-spinners & 15 left-arm spinners. Video analysis & drills were used to assess progress.

Tamil Nadu’s lack of depth in the bowling department, especially pace bowlers, has been hurting the team’s performance in First-Class cricket for a while. To address this the TNCA started a talent-hunt programme scouring the State earlier this year.

After a thorough process over the last three months with an overwhelming response to the selection trials held at the district level first, followed by the final selection in Chennai, 77 bowlers have now been selected.

The break-up of the 77 reads as 30 medium pacers, 16 off-spinners and leg-spinners each and 15 left-arm spinners.

In June, these shortlisted bowlers had an intense three-week camp at Tiruppur (medium pacers), Theni (off and left-arm spinners) and Chennai (leg-spin) under the respective TNCA coaches.

TNCA Academy head coach and former TN player P.C. Prakash heads the programme with specialised coaches for the various departments.

Former TN all-rounder S. Mahesh headed the medium-pacers camp with R. Jesuraj and S. Arvind, while M. Prabhu and Bharathan handled the off-spinners. Similarly, Charkradar Rao and Siva Prakash were in charge of left-arm spinners, while T.S. Mukund and Bhaskar conducted the leg-spinners camp.

“We had a video analysis at the start of the camp, and coaches devised drills specific to individuals based on the analysis. After three weeks, we again did a video shoot to show the progress and gave these bowlers a routine to follow,” said Prakash.