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The Cricket Interview/Thirumalai Ananthan Sekhar

'Srinath and Prasad came on their own'

Thirumalai Ananthan Sekhar's career is typical of his time -- the early eighties. When fast bowlers were about as welcome on the country's cricketscape as smallpox.

It was, in fact, a funny time -- when reams were written about the lack of quality quicks in India, when pundits sighed after the pace batteries of other nations, when Sunil Gavaskar took the new ball... and when a fast bowler did happen along, no one knew what to do with him. Because hey, Indians can't bowl fast, right? So this bloke can't be fast, can he?

Naah. He can't. We must be seeing things. So, out you go.

T A Sekhar was an example of that mindset. When he first made the scene on the Tamil Nadu leagues and then the Ranji Trophy team, word spread about a strapping bloke who came charging in and bowled real quick. Madan Lal's exit from the 1982-1983 tour of Pakistan gave him his break -- if you can call it one. For on the flat pitches of Pakistan, Sekhar in two Tests did nothing more than prove that he could bowl fast.

He went wicketless, and the selectorial thinking went, he is erratic, he sprays the ball around, anyway Indian team does not need a guy to bowl fast, just someone who can take the shine off before giving it to the spinners is fair enough. So out Sekhar went, never to make it back to the Test team.

For a guy who supposedly could bowl fast but not straight, Sekhar came back into the side for, of all things, the one-day international series against England at home, in 1984-1985. And bowled well in all three games, with three for 24 in the Chandigarh fixture being his best.

And then, bye-bye Sekhar. Till he surfaced in the media headlines in 1987, as head coach of the just formed MRF Pace Academy, subsequently renamed MRF Pace Foundation.

We caught up with 'Shake' at the M A Chidambaram Stadium in Madras. On a balmy September day, when the visiting Australian cricket academy hopefuls were engaged in a friendly practise match against a scratch eleven drawn from the TN first division league.

Getting him to talk was tough -- not that he didn't want to, just that Wayne Phillips, coach of the touring Aussie boys, and he were in a constant huddle. About sight-seeing plans for the evening, about a projected trip next day to the seaside resort of Mahabalipuram, about a hundred other things... 'Shake' being the ACA's unofficial pointsman in Madras.

When everything had been sorted out to Phillips's satisfaction, Sekhar came over and plonked himself down on the pavilion steps for a chat. Excerpts, from his conversation with Prem Panicker:

Hi. Busy shepherding the ACA boys around?

Yeah, well, we have excellent relations with the Australian academy, when we go there for training, they look after us very well. It's only fair that we reciprocate, when they come down here.

How did this link with the ACA begin?

Mainly thanks to Dennis Lillee, who has been with the MRF Pace Foundation since inception. He takes an interest in me, in our players, helps out with arranging training stints at the ACA.

You talked of the inception of the MRF foundation, just now. Going into it, ten years ago, did you have any clear goals in mind?

Sure. The late Ravi Mammen (younger son of MRF MD Mammen Mappillai) had a very clear vision of what he wanted to do. Kapil Dev was at his peak then, but he was not a fast bowler, ever -- just a medium pacer, a very good one obviously. But Ravi Mammen's dream was to bring about a situation where two, three fast bowlers bowled at a time for the Indian team -- and there were enough reserve bowlers around as well.

And ten years down the line, how far have you come towards that goal?

I must point out that we can only produce fast bowlers. It is up to the selection committee to select them, and to the team management to use them. Speaking for ourselves, we have done very well. In this time, Vivek Razdan, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Debashish Mohanty, Dodda Ganesh, Subroto Bannerjee, all of them have passed through out academy, learnt their skills there, and done well whenever they got the chance.

Besides, in this same period, we produced for Sri Lanka the likes of Chaminda Vaas, Ravindra Pushpakumara, Sajeewa D'Silva, Nuwan Zoysa -- in fact, their entire new ball attack is comprised of MRF boys. And right now, our latest batch, we have five, six boys, all doing well, a couple at least sure prospects for the near future. So yeah, we are getting there. I mean, these things take time to show results -- and we are pretty satisfied with the results we have achieved thus far.

(Ed's note: Elaborating on the point that producing fast bowlers is one half of the job, picking them is the other, we pause here to take a quick look at the strange case of Vivek Razdan. The strapping fast bowler with the good outswinger and abrupt, some would say ridiculous, follow-through was a trainee at the academy when, on Dennis Lillee's recommendation, he was picked for the Rest of India's Irani Trophy tie against Delhi in 1989. At that point, he had not played a single first class game. However, he bowled well enough to convince the selectors to pick him for the tour of Pakistan immediately following. So, in Solomon Grundy fashion, Razdan found himself playing Test cricket 20 days after his first first-class game. No wickets on debut (second Test at Faisalabad) but in his second game (the fourth Test of the series) he bowled brilliantly to take 5/79. And guess what? He never, ever, played Test cricket for India again!)

So what exactly is your modus operandi? How do you go about picking your trainees?

Initially we wrote to the various associations, asking them to send promising candidates over to our academy. But you know how it is here -- nepotism rules. So we used to get the secretary's nephew, and the president's son, that sort of thing.

So now, what we do is go directly to the various states. I start touring during the off season. Our academy closes on September 15, so immediately after that I set out, go to the various states, check out the Under-16s, the Under-19s. Pick up promising talent, have them in Madras for the next season, when the camp opens in January. Dennis comes down at that time, and goes through the probables and picks the boys he thinks are most talented.

Lillee was talking of 'everything under one roof' being the strongpoint of the MRF Foundation. Care to elaborate?

Yes, in the sense that we don't just have a nets and make boys bowl fast. It is a total camp, a residential one, every year we have eight students staying with us, totally provided for, January to September. In this time, Dennis comes down thrice, for a fortnight at a time. In his first visit, he picks the probables, then puts them through their paces and when he leaves, he gives them guidelines on how to go about developing their skills. Then he comes again in April, to monitor their progress and to take them further along the road to learning. And then again in September, to post-mortem their gains so far, guide them further, give them tips for off season training.

Besides that, I am here full time, as head coach. There is a Mr Ramji, who is a fitness expert and who looks after the boys in the gym, sprinting exercises, that sort of thing. Mr Mannivannan is our specialist swimming coach, swimming is very important for developing upper body strength, arm strength, flexibility. Dr Gopal Ramnath is atttached to the camp, to look after the medical needs of the boys. Anant Joshi, a doctor in sports medicine, looks after the physiotherapy side of the training. Plus we have a full-time dietician, who makes sure the boys eat the right kinds of foods.

As head coach, what are your qualifications? Have you taken training in coaching, or are you a natural?

No, I have studied, at the Australian Cricket Academy, the latest coaching techniques. During the off season, every year, I go there again to update myself on latest developments, techniques, fitness programmes, sports medicine.... Besides, even during the season we are in constant touch, so every new development is passed down the line to me.

Sounds good -- so would you say the Board of Control for Cricket in India is using these facilities to the fullest?

Well, what can I say? India is a land of bureaucracy. We are a private organisation. Well, let me put it this way -- the South African cricket board felt that Lance Kluesener could do with some further training, development. So they contacted us, and sent him here for this camp so he could spend a fortnight under Dennis and Jeff (Thompson). The Sri Lankan board regularly sends its bowlers here, between series or during the off season, for advanced training. The Indian board has not, shall we say, seen fit to do so.

Srinath and Prasad were here over the weekend....?

The board had nothing to do with it. They phoned us, asking if they could come and consult with Dennis. They are our boys, we said of course you can come down. And that was it. Nobody sponsored them, sent them down, nothing like that.

You said just now that the foundation is a private organisation. How is it set up?

As a seperate, full-fledged division of MRF. My designation is not "head coach" or whatever -- that is my job function. Actually, I am manager, corporate planning, in charge of the foundation.

How would you sum up the coaching mindset at the foundation?

I would say the most important characteristic is that we do away with rigidity, and bring in a simplicity to the thinking.

Let me explain. Earlier, if you remember, back in the time when we were learning the game, playing, coaches used to go by the book. Ball is on a length on off stump? You come forward, front knee bent, bat angled down, playing the forward defensive stroke. And only the forward defensive stroke. God help you if you tried to go half cock, wait for the ball and flick it with a turn of the wrists through midwicket, or play the push-drive through extra cover. Or if you were an opening bowler, you came running in, went side on, and delivered the ball. If you happened to be open chested, you didn't count as a prospect because open-chested was "all wrong".

Today, the thinking is, what works for you is the best for you. And that is our philosophy as well. We are not here to change your natural instincts, merely to hone them, enhance them. For instance, today you can be side on, square on, or half-and-half. That's fine. What we do is work with what you are, and help you optimise your output with your own style.

Lillee too was talking about this side on, square on, business. Care to elaborate? I mean, what are the pluses of each style?

Well, side on is when your body, at the time of delivery, is turned to mid off, your head is turned sideways, looking down the track, sighting the batsman past your upraised left arm for the right hand bowler, right? Now this style is, of the three, the one that requires the least effort out of the fast bowler because it is all about rhythm, about using the rhythm and pace of the run up and the delivery to get your results. Square on, or front on, which is a better description, your body, your torso, is facing down the pitch at the batsman and your head is straight, also looking down the pitch. If you try being square on when you delivery, you will find that unlike when you are side on, the effect of the torso is less, the effect of the pivot you get when you are side on is not there in this style.

Here you are not really using to the fullest the body, the momentum. It is more shoulder and arm strength. And half and half, well, like the name says, you are not exactly square on, not exactly side on either -- it is a slightly more open chested style than the side on one, like, say for instance, Debashish Mohanty is a bit of a half-and-half bowler. And no... (laughing) that doesn't mean that the guy bowling side on gets the best of both worlds, the benefits of both styles.

How about the thinking that the chest on bowler can't really get the ball to swing in?

That's an example of what I was telling you about -- the rigid school of thought. We don't believe in that, chest on bowlers can get the ball to swing just as well as side on ones. It's like, hey, do all side on bowlers get the ball to swing? I mean, if that was the case, all you had to do was teach a bowler to run in and bowl side on, right? And the ball would at once start swinging? Obviously, it doesn't work that way. These skills, of swinging and seaming the ball, are learnt, then honed through practise -- and irrespective of your style of delivery, they can be learnt and practised.

Today there's a bunch of blokes, some of them at least slower than what you were in your prime, running in to bowl for India. But your own Test career was, shall we say, briefer than Pamela Anderson's bikini. Any regrets?

No, what's the use of regrets? That is the way it happened, maybe at that point, our cricket thinking was not inclined towards fast bowlers. So there was no learning period -- one day I was in the side and the next, out, and that was it. That's over and done with. And now I have the satisfaction that I am at the helm of affairs here, I am doing useful, productive work, helping Indian cricket, perhaps even more than I could have as a player. What is there to regret?