Spinners bowling no-balls a concern: Bahutule

There is an old video that floats on YouTube. It has a snatch of the stump microphone catching Rohit Sharma’s remark about Ravindra Jadeja and in that, the then Indian captain says: “Jaddu, what are you bowling, in IPL he doesn’t bowl no-balls, and here he does.”

Cut to the latest second Test in progress against Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, among India’s no-balls, 10 were bowled by spinners with Saransh Jain and Jadeja being guilty of this mistake. It was no surprise that spin-bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule was asked about this malaise in the media interaction on Wednesday.

Reacting to this, Bahutule said: “It is something we have been working on. It is a concern but generally when the bowler is putting in that effort, trying to see how he can create that opportunity and get a wicket in situations where wickets are not coming, he has a tendency to push himself. But this is not an excuse. A lot of work has been put in with Jadeja, and with Saransh, about where the take-off point is.”

Asked if this bad habit seeps in from net sessions, Bahutule countered: “Reminders are given during nets also. It is similar to a match situation. We take every session seriously, it is monitored from the side view. It is monitored generally. Sometimes, I stand as an umpire and other coaches do too.” Later tongue-in-cheek Bahutule said that perhaps a penalty (like a free-hit in limited-overs cricket) could reduce this error in Tests.

Terming Sonal Dinusha as a thorn in India’s flesh, Bahutule stressed that despite the aggressive manner in which the Sri Lankans batted, the spinners did well to rein them in. “Each one played their role. Saransh was defensive, Manav Suthar played his role and Jadeja was tight.”