Coach Badani praises rookie pacer Ashwath

The cause of Badani’s prognostication has to do with Ashwath’s match-winning spell of eight for 84 against Kerala at Wayanad in the Colonel CK Nayudu U-23 trophy. As someone who has observed the reed-thin pacer from his salad days, Badani, while delighted at his telling impact, says one shouldn’t rush into making any definitive judgments about him. 

“I’m immensely happy at how he is progressing. Right from the time I started working with him (at Super Gillies), I knew he had a lot of talent. For someone so young (Ashwath is 21), he possesses temperament that belies his age and experience,” said Badani. 

Asked on the specific areas he needs to work on to become more well-rounded, the 41-year-old Badani said he could equip himself with more variations so that there wouldn’t be sameness about his bowling. “For starters, he should add some muscle. Right now he is too lean and runs the risk of breaking down. 

He should work on improving his fitness and be prepared to bowl long spells. The challenge for any up and coming youngster lies in being consistent. 

He should focus more on air speed and learn to bowl on unresponsive surfaces. But I’m sure as time goes by, he will evolve into a complete fast bowler. He has the necessary attributes to make an impression on that count,” added Badani. 

Tamil Nadu enjoyed a fruitful day against Saurashtra in the Group A Cooch Behar U-19 trophy match at Dindigul on Tuesday. At stumps on day three, Saurashtra was struggling at 110 for five, with an overall lead of 15 runs. Southpaw Sachin Mevada top scored with 58 (89b, 7x4, 1x6). Earlier, TN took a handy lead of 95 runs after resuming from its overnight score of 223 for six. R Sonu Yadav was unfortunate to have missed out on a century as he made 93 (140b, 11x4, 1x6). Pranav Karia took three wickets for 89 runs. 

Brief scores: Saurashtra 253 & 110/5 in 56 overs (Sachin Mevada 58) vs Tamil Nadu 348 in 104.4 overs (Aditya Barooah 95, Tushar Raheja 65, R Sonu Yadav 93, Pranav Karia 3/89).