A legendary former leg-spinner, India coach Anil Kumble went to the extent of bowling left-arm spin to help Cheteshwar Pujara overcome the challenges posed by Steve O'Keefe in the ongoing Test series against Australia
Anil Kumble
Ranchi: A legendary former leg-spinner, India coach Anil Kumble went to the extent of bowling left-arm spin to help Cheteshwar Pujara overcome the challenges posed by Steve O'Keefe in the ongoing Test series against Australia.
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Cheteshwar Pujara during his 92 in Bangalore. Pic/PTI
Pujara, who fell to left-arm spinner O'Keefe and premier pacer Mitchell Starc in the Pune Test, struck a gritty 92 in the second innings to set up a series-levelling win for India in Bangalore.
O'Keefe had proved to be unplayable in Pune, ending with career-best figures of 12 for 70. In his bid to simulate what Indian batsmen will be up against, Kumble went to the extent of bowling left-arm spinners to Pujara in practice.
“As they have a left-arm spinner, Anil bhai was trying to replicate that, coming from corner of the crease and angling into the right hander and try to spin it from there,” Pujara told 'bcci.tv' ahead of the third Test beginning here on March 16.
“So I was just trying to get used to that angle. Fielding coach R Sridhar was also very useful as he was taking the ball away and was really accurate. Anil bhai tried his best even though he is a right-arm bowler but he tried bowling left-arm spin which was decent enough for practice.”
The spin great even managed to beat Pujara. “Yes he did. He knew where to bowl, the ball pitched on the rough and I stepped out only to get beaten,” said the batsman.
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