He played a stellar role in India’s wins Down Under in 2018-19 and 2020-21. Recognised as one of India’s best bowling coaches, Bharath Arun is currently in recovery mode in Chennai after a surgery. Speaking to Boria Majumdar, he heaped praise on Harshit Rana and revealed how Ravi Shastri and the bowling group had worked on Mohammed Siraj in 2020-21.
Boria: You played a stellar role in the 2021 win when everyone had written the team off. Siraj led an inexperienced fast bowling attack. What was the talk with Siraj then?
Bharath Arun: Ravi and I spent a lot of time with Siraj. Each time I sat down with him, I mentioned to him that he should think what he did at the Ranji Trophy games. He has been very successful in domestic cricket and there has to be a reason behind it. He needed to do the same at Test level in Australia. I told him he will be fine after the initial nerves had settled, and all he needed to do was bowl the same way he did at the Ranji Trophy. Back his strengths. Forget the stage and who he was bowling to. Just back his strengths and follow the process that got him there and had made him successful.
Boria: You have coached Harshit Rana at KKR. He has been picked with just 10 first-class games under his belt. What stands out in Harshit, you reckon?
Bharath: His confidence. He is very sure of his ability and isn’t scared of the big stage. He is a tall bowler and he will be able to generate bounce. What goes in his favour is also his ability to get movement. Someone who gets bounce and movement is rare, and in Australian conditions, he can be a very useful bowler for India. Having seen him very closely, his confidence is something that has stood out for me.
Boria: You have worked with Gautam Gambhir at KKR. He hasn’t had the best start and there is a lot of criticism that’s going on after the NZ whitewash. Your take on Gautam, and how he can take on the Australians.
Bharath: We all know Gautam is a tough man. In all my interactions with him at KKR, what I have seen is he is a straight talker. With him, you get what you see. There is nothing that is left unsaid. He will make sure that he fights till the last ball. That’s how he is and that’s what stands you apart in Australia. They will challenge you and you need to be strong enough to deal with them. I think Gautam can do the job. We need to stand by him and back him fully.
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Boria: There is a lot of talk on who should be India’s first-choice spinner. Where do you stand on this?
Bharath: Ashwin. If you ask me, I’d play Ashwin as India’s first-choice spinner. He has the experience of playing in Australia and is a hugely thinking cricketer. His impact in the last series is not always given due recognition. The way he bowled against Steve Smith, his record against Usman Khwaja, the presence of left-handers in the line up – you have to say it should be Ashwin. Also, he is a very handy batter. Think of his Sydney effort and you will know what I am speaking about.
Boria: This time round, there is a little bit of inexperience in the attack. But then, I think of the Gabba. No one was there, literally. And we did it. Tell me the story.
Bharath: To lose Jasprit [Bumrah], Ashwin, [Mohammed] Shami, Umesh [Yadav] and [Ravindra] Jadeja can never be easy. You have in actuality lost your entire attack. But you see, that’s where you need to step up as coach. You need to relish the challenge. With Bumrah, Shami and Ashwin, you know you have great guys to do the job for you. Each one is a legend, whether Bharath Arun is there or not. The job becomes slightly easier when each of these bowlers are available to you.
At the Gabba, however, things were very different. You can say we got lucky because of Covid. It was only because of the times we were living in that we had Washington [Sundar], [T] Natarajan and Shardul [Thakur] with the team. We couldn’t get replacements from India and it was prudent to keep them back in case of an eventuality. What this meant was they had seen everything that had transpired in Australia. They were part of every dressing room chat and every practice session. They knew what we wanted and what we were after. Having been with us for two months, none of them needed to be told what we wanted them to do.
We had played fantastic cricket and it was now upon them to continue to do so at the Gabba. Against a very good side that always fancied playing at the Gabba, this was one of the most difficult things they will ever do. They knew it and relished the challenge. Yet again, I go back to telling you what I said at the very start of our conversation. We kept things simple. Each one of these players have made the Indian team for a reason. They are good enough to be in the top 20 in the country. Each one has his strength and that’s all we reminded them of. They needed to bowl to their strengths, and not worry about the result. They did, and the rest is history.
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