Ranji Trophy 2015: Gujarat bank on Rush to revive campaign
Gujarat, after garnering only two points from their first two Ranji Trophy games of the season, lock horns with Railways in the Group B contest at the Karnail Singh Stadium in the capital. The Parthiv Patel-led unit conceded first-innings leads in both their encounters, and would like to earn some points on what promises to be a result-oriented wicket.
The venue has always been a happy hunting ground for the fast bowlers. In the last three Ranji Trophy matches played here, 40 out of the 53 wickets to fall were snapped by the seamers. Going by the pattern and nature of the wicket, seamers would play a major role.
Gujarat would pin their hopes on left-arm seamer Rush Kalaria who returned as the leading wicket-taker for the state in the 2014/15 campaign with 33 scalps. After returning empty-handed from the run-fest against Punjab, Kalaria feels the strip here will keep the bowlers interested.
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“This wicket is going to assist the bowlers for the first two days. I have heard people saying that it might keep low as well but I don’t think so. I feel it should play well for the opening two days and will have plenty for the bowlers. Good wicket to bowl,” says Kalaria.
Reading the wicket and visualising his spell has become a regular affair for the 22-year-old after an interaction with his idol Zaheer Khan. The former India seamer advised the youngster to start thinking in order to take bowling to a different level.
“He told me to learn how to read the wicket and the batsman. That’s one step ahead of what international players do. I am focussing on trying to do all these things in the middle and visualise better,” says Kalaria.
The seamer adds that Zak’s advice did wonders last season and he wants to follow the drill. “It helped me a lot. Mainly reading the wicket. Bowling depends a lot on the wickets. Lines and lengths are different for flat and seaming wickets. I made those little adjustments and was able to bowl better, even on batting-friendly wickets,” he adds.
If Zaheer helped Kalaria read the game better, RP Singh, who has moved to Gujarat from UP as a professional this season, keeps reminding him how important it is to be patient in the Ranji Trophy.
“It is wonderful to bowl with and have such an experienced bowler in the camp. He keeps telling me that patience in Ranji Trophy is the big thing. You have to bowl 3-4 maidens at a stretch to get a wicket. He told me it’s important to bowl consistently on one line to get wickets,” informs Kalaria, who enjoys an impressive economy rate of 2.45 in 20 First-Class games.
After working on the ‘thinking’ aspect of the game, Kalaria is putting in the hard yards to improve his speed. The seamer doesn’t want to compromise his strength, which lies in swing, but wants to bowl around the 135 kmph mark.
“My strength is swing and line and length. But I feel extra speed will only give my bowling the extra edge. I am doing a lot of strength training and working hard on my bowling muscles. I wish to touch the 135 kmph mark, and hit it consistently,” Kalaria added.
