Mumbai-based Walkar and Ambatkar in opposite camps for Cup opener

Saurabh Walkar and Saurabh Ambatkar

Two Mumbai-based specialists - Saurabh Walkar and Saurabh Ambatkar - are helping both England and New Zealand achieve their desired goals in the World Cup which starts here today.

Walkar, 38, who earlier worked with the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team, Rajasthan Royals and the Afghanistan national team as a performance analyst, has been travelling with NZ team since their last ODI series against England and Bangladesh. Stand-in Kiwi skipper Tom Latham must be hoping to make maximum use of Walkar's knowledge of Indian pitches and his experience in analysing opposing players' plus points as well as limitations.

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Ambatkar, 39, who represented Mumbai at the U-16 level and played for Vidarbha's senior team as a left-arm spinner, is helping England batsmen with throw downs. He has been working with Kolkata Knight Riders since the last four years. He also helped the Shikhar Dhawan-led Indian team when they toured Sri Lanka in 2021. Left-armer Ambatkar is determined to help England head coach Matthew Mott and his team perform well at the World Cup.

"I enjoyed playing cricket for Mumbai as well as Vidarbha. I'm enjoying helping KKR and the England team with my throw downs. England players too enjoyed it thoroughly, especially the outgoing deliveries," Ambatkar told mid-day.