The mantra 'Practice makes a man perfect' is the mantra that Anureet Singh follow on. Anureet the Kings XI Punjab pacer is a enthusiastic student of the art of pace bowler. The young bowler lacked some strength which is key of the fast bowler but with advice like of Wasim Akram and now looking to his crew member Mitchell Johnson, has over the years worked on building it.
Anureet grown up by following Waqar Younis, like his idol the young boy is working towards the art of bowling yorkers. Anureet also trying to be perfect in swinging the ball both ways as he looks to add to his armoury.
After the training season at the Ferozeshah Kotla, he had interview with iplt20.com. Anureet who became an important part of KXIP bowling attack, talks about his journey from waiting to play for Delhi to debuting for Railways and playing a auspicious in IPL, and bowling to the Indian skipper MS Dhoni, the one batsman he always wanted to bowl to.
You have talked earlier about working on getting your lengths right. How did you work on that and with whom?
When you bowl in the Ranji Trophy, you bowl so much at three-quarter lengths that it becomes normal to you to bowl there. And here, our coach Joe Dawes gave me pointers on bowling yorkers and I practiced accordingly. I have always been able to bowl yorkers but he told me that consistency is important. In that it doesn’t mean that you bowl all six balls yorkers, but how consistent you are in that is important. I have been working on becoming more consistent. Like Lasith Malinga can bowl all six balls yorkers, I also strive towards that. If I am bowling in the death overs I practice for those. And now I have practiced bowling slow bouncers and slower ones. I have worked on these things and benefited from that.
While batsmen are falling to slower deliveries they have also learned to pick them up. So how have you worked on bowling those effectively?
We set the field accordingly. If the batsman does hit a good shot that’s a different story but if I execute (my plans) to a hundred percent then I will benefit from that. My effort is to execute my plans. The captain gives me the field that I want and I try to execute it.
So you would say that the captain’s support is important?
Yes, it is important because if he is giving me a field and I bowl to that field. But if the batsman hits the shot I have no problem. I have to give my hundred percent.
You had said in a previous interview that you are now confident of swinging the ball both ways. How did you work towards that?
My coaches - I was with Sanjay bhaiyya (KXIP coach, Sanjay Bangar) and my former Railways coach, Abhay Sharma sir - guide me. Like I wasn’t able to bowl the outswing much, mostly I would bowl the in-swinger. So I practiced that a lot and then was able to execute it in Ranji Trophy and I got returns for it. The more you bowl the better you get. I bowled and performed well in the Ranji Trophy, the domestic one-day competition and I executed what I had practiced and got the rewards for it.
Here in the T20 you have to fit everything in four intense overs. So what adjustments do you have to make to adapt?
Here you have very little time to think. Here given the speed at which things happen and the (pressure from the) crowd, you don’t have time to think. What you have practiced you have to implement in the match. You have to prepare in the nets and then apply it in the match and you will see that it makes a difference.
What have you learnt from Joe Dawes?
I have definitely learnt a lot from him. He is a confident coach. He has supported me a lot. If he thinks that during practice I am taking too much on he stops me there and then. And it makes a lot of difference how quickly the coach understands the player.
Can you elaborate on the tips from Dawes that have helped you?
I bowl yorkers from round-the-wicket now, earlier I wouldn’t bowl them as much. I practiced them in the last CLT20 (2014). I hadn’t thought much about bowling those and that they would yield results like this. But Dawes observed that if I can bowl yorkers so well I could bowl them round-the-wicket as well. And so he asked me to try it out and practice the delivery. And if it works well in practice, good; if it doesn’t then we have other options that we can bowl – like the wide-of-the-crease yorkers or the regular yorkers. But when I practiced bowling round-the-wicket yorkers, I realised that I don’t concede runs. If I don’t give my hundred percent, only then I concede runs, otherwise the batsmen can’t hit me from there. That made a difference.
You have spent some time with Wasim Akram, who is the master of swing. What did you learn from him?
In IPL 2010 I was with the Kolkata Knight Riders but was injured and wasn’t part of the team. However, I got to spend a week with him. He is one person I have seen who is very confident. He understands fast bowlers and pushes them. Since I was injured at the time I asked him what I should do regarding it. He told me only one thing, ‘I played with a back injury for 20 years. So if I can play for 20 years, so can you.’ It gives a guy confidence and motivation that, if a bowler can play international cricket and take 500 wickets why can’t I? So I asked him what he had done and he told me that he would run. So, I thought I should try doing that, and when I did, it made a lot of difference. If you are running then the thought of injury goes away and your focus is on running. So that is something I learnt from him.
With regards to bowling, I was bowling and he said he will bowl with me. I was bowling with my full run-up and I wasn’t getting that much carry and he was getting more carry bowling in two steps. When I asked, he told me about the wrist position. I practiced the wrist position; he showed me how to do it and the ball to began to carry through better when I applied it. These are little things which if a coach, an experienced cricketer or such a senior former cricketer tells you, it helps a lot.
How important is pace and how challenging is it to combine it with swing?
In my case earlier I was lacking in strength, lower body support. Like last year (in the 2013-14 season) I bowled a lot in Ranji Trophy and then I felt that my body isn’t allowing it. Then I got injured and came back in the CLT20. I was lacking a bit in pace then; I would bowl between 130-135 kph but I wasn’t able to do it consistently. So this year I worked hard on that aspect. This season (2014-15) when I was bowling in the Ranji Trophy I was trying to bowl at the same pace. I worked on bowling with pace. I was told that when I bowl the in-swinger with pace I am effective and if I can increase my pace by five to seven kilometres then I would be far more effective. I too felt that. This year I bowled at a better pace and I have worked on my strength.
I had spoken to Mitchell Johnson as well about this. He too told me to work on the lower body. I haven’t trained with him but I have watched him, what he does and I tried it too and felt the difference. So I’ve continued working on that with my trainer, Nishant ji, which has helped me.
How has it been sharing the dressing room with Johnson and bowling alongside him?
If you are bowling from the opposite end with a legendary international fast-bowler it definitely boosts your confidence. There are many good fast bowlers in our team and we enjoy each other’s success which is very important. Being with him has definitely helped. If you ask him, he will definitely talk to you and help you understand.
I have been with (Parvinder) Awana bhaiyya for seven-eight years. We were together in college and are together in the academy as well and practice also together.
Is there nervousness when you are to bowl to hard-hitting international batsmen like Chris Gayle or MS Dhoni?
There isn’t nervousness once you enter the ground, but before that you are thinking about what you need to do. Once you enter the ground, the mind is blank. I have played with Chris Gayle as well when we were in KKR but I had never bowled to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. So this season when I bowled to him I felt proud that I am bowling to him. This was one batsman that I hadn’t bowled to but I was always praying that I should get an opportunity to bowl to. And then when I bowled to him I felt really good.
You can’t be in two minds (second guessing yourself) when you are bowling to these guys. You don’t have too much time to think when you are bowling to such batsmen who can hit any ball anywhere. So then you go back to the basics, execute the plans and give your hundred percent, that is what is important.
So how and where did the journey start?
Initially I tried playing from Delhi, I tried for four years but I couldn’t get the opportunity. I used to play league matches and be on the stand by. My father had retired from the Railways, and he told me to attend the trials and I was selected there. In 2007 I was selected and in 2008 I made my Ranji Trophy debut and in 2009 I played IPL. In 2010 I was injured and missed three years but I continued to play in Ranji Trophy and now for two years I am playing.
Waqar Younis has always been my idol. I was a fan of his from the beginning. I want to meet him once. I have been following him from the very beginning because I used to find his action smooth, he would run so well. I started playing after giving my tenth standard exams. After that I was clear that I only want to play cricket. My family would tell me to study and all that and though I said I will do it, I focused more on cricket and less on my studies.
What has it been like playing under George Bailey and with Virender Sehwag?
It is a big thing for me, a matter of honour and pride. Bailey is an international who captained his team on debut and playing under him is a huge thing. He is a legend.
Viru paa is ‘zabardast’ (fantastic). He is a positive person. If he ever feels that you can do something he would come and tell you. It is a mark of a great player who comes himself to give you pointers. He will correct you if he sees you going wrong somewhere. The dressing room atmosphere is very good. I had never thought I would be playing alongside such great players.
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