Boria Majumdar and Bharath Ramaraj
In the ongoing IPL, we have already seen a slew of relatively unknown cricketers making their mark. From Vignesh Puttur to Aniket Verma and Ashwani Kumar have all made an impact with sterling performances. Ashwani, the left-arm pace bowler from Punjab, returned noteworthy figures of 4 for 24 on his IPL debut against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Wasim Jaffer, one of the stalwarts of Indian domestic cricket and the current coach of Punjab, has witnessed the young left-arm pace bowler from close quarters. In an exclusive chat with RevSportz, the former Indian cricketer opens up about Ashwani’s work ethic, how he made a comeback into the domestic set-up after being in the wilderness, his humble background and more.
Excerpts from the interview:
Yesterday, we saw the young Ashwani Kumar burst on the scene in the Indian Premier League, taking four wickets. If I go back in time, he made his Ranji Trophy debut in 2019. You have watched him as the coach of Punjab. Can you tell us a little more about this cricketer?
First of all, I saw him when I was in Punjab in August. I went there and I watched a lot of district games. He was playing for Mohali, I was impressed with his action, the way he bowled. Even though the pitch was not too conducive for fast bowling, I liked his approach, the way he was running towards the stumps, and his strong bowling action. Then I got to know that he was somebody who played way back in 2019. Got injured after playing one or two games, then he was sidelined. Probably they played him a bit too early than he should have. But after that, he worked tirelessly. I got the opportunity to coach Punjab from September, every time we had a camp, he would be there, irrespective of whether he was in the probables or not.
He, and another guy called Sahil Khan, I will mention him because he also made his debut this season, but they would come every time you call them. And I would make sure that they would come and bowl to your batters because the batters also want to face good bowlers. He is somebody who bowls close to 140 kph, has a very strong bouncer, bowls a very good yorker as well and (he is) developing his slower deliveries.
Punjab cricketers play a lot of T20 cricket around the circuit. And a lot of Punjab batters have a high regard for him. So, I picked him for the Mushtaq Ali tournament, we needed somebody. Arshdeep was available, Gurnoor Brar was there, Baltej was there. I wanted to groom some younger boys because Siddarth Kaul and Baltej Singh have been playing continuously. We didn’t have the second batch.
Discipline and work ethic were some of your key qualities. And just now you mentioned ‘work ethic’ while sharing your thoughts on Ashwani. Is that something that stands out in him?
I think that is what impressed me, he has got a very good attitude because what happens is when you are not picked in the probables’ camp, bowlers are reluctant to come and do the hard work. They feel that they are doing the donkey’s job, coming and bowling to the batter without much recognition, but he wasn’t like that. He and the other guy that I mentioned would come and bowl for hours without complaining. That is something you noticed.
It might go unnoticed for some people, but coaches do notice all those things that these guys… whenever you call them, they are there to help the team. And they had quality. There is no denying that. It is just that he didn’t get the opportunities after 2019, but he kept working hard, kept improving, he had a very good Punjab Premier League. I think he was the second or third-highest wicket-taker in that tournament. And he had all the ingredients. He bowls close to 140 clicks, he has a very sharp bouncer, bowls a very good yorker, slower balls and all those things, which you require for the T20 format. That is why we picked him in the Mushtaq Ali (tournament), he played a couple of games in that tournament, he was there in the Vijay Hazare tournament.
Ashwani is presently sharing the dressing room with players like Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma and Co. So, do you believe sharing the dressing room with players of that calibre would help him to grow further as a cricketer?
Oh! Immensely. I mean if you share the dressing room with all these people, your confidence goes sky high. If you’re somebody who has to draft the knowledge, who wants to improve, there is no better dressing room than the Mumbai dressing room. There is Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Lasith Malinga, Bumrah, you name them and everybody is there. Sachin Tendulkar might come in and share his insights a few times. So, if you’re someone who wants to improve, who wants to learn, there is no better place. Jasprit Bumrah became Jasprit Bumrah after joining Mumbai Indians.
So, if he is willing, if he wants to improve, there is no better place. That is why I said that I felt happy he went to the Mumbai Indians team because they have been scouting, I used to keep getting calls from Rahul Sanghvi – How is Ashwani doing? Even before the auction, they had their eyes set on these players. He was always collecting information – How did he bowl in this game? How is this guy doing? Even though he didn’t play a lot of games. Arshdeep was available for the white-ball tournament for us, Sanvir Singh is another fast bowler, Baltej Singh was there. He only got limited opportunities but he had the skill set. In the first couple of games, he didn’t do well, and he got dropped after that. But he had the potential.
Vignesh Puttur, Aniket and now Ashwani – Is this the essence of the IPL? One youngster after another, with an abundance of talent, shining brightly on the grandest of stages…
Foreign players, the teams pick them because they see them in the leagues, playing for the international team, and then you pick them. So, there is no rocket science. You know what is expected of them. But these uncapped players work tirelessly hard to get this platform. And I feel very happy. Last season, it was Nitish Reddy, Ramandeep Singh and Harshit Rana. Those players got opportunities, and Nitish Reddy made the most of it, he went and scored a hundred in Australia. A season before, who would have expected Nitish to play Test cricket? In my time, it was the Ranji Trophy that was everything. We used to look forward to four-day cricket because you knew that if you get 1000 runs in the Ranji Trophy, you would probably get opportunities somewhere.
We didn’t have the IPL. But now players come into the domestic season thinking about the IPL. And I don’t argue with that because IPL gives such a platform where opportunities open immensely for them. Sometimes, scoring 800 or 1000 runs or even getting 40 wickets might go unnoticed if you are not playing the IPL. Any player thinking about the IPL, wanting to play the IPL, I don’t argue with that because it is such a big platform. I am very happy; Ashwani comes from a very humble background, he struggled to buy his stuff, he has made the most of it, sincere and hardworking. And those are the guys who make it big. After playing for so long, after coaching in the circuit… It is your discipline, your work ethic that takes you a long way.
After the IPL, there is the England Test series. The moment I think of it, I get worried. Are you worried about the India tour of England? Or do you believe India will get its act together?
I am a little worried, without a doubt. Watching India play in Australia, I am a little worried. The form of our batters, what if Bumrah is not available in that Test series. Or if Shami is not available for that matter, what will happen? The Dukes ball… how our batters have batted in Australia, if the same trend continues, we will definitely struggle. But I hope they get their act together. And I hope the (team) wins the Test series, which we haven’t done for a long time in England. But we need to do much better than what we did in Australia.