It's mission pace for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), who announced a talent hunt programme to unearth raw bowlers across the country yesterday.
It's mission pace for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), who announced a talent hunt programme to unearth raw bowlers across the country yesterday. 
Karsan Ghavri
The trials will be conducted in Himachal Pradesh (Dharamsala Feb 18-19), Jammu and Kashmir (Jammu Feb 22-23), Jharkhand (Ranchi Feb 25-26) and Chhattisgarh (Raipur Feb 28-29) and boys between the age of 17 and 22 will be eligible for them.
Former Test cricketer and Mumbai stalwart Karsan Ghavri, who will supervise the trials alongwith Yoginder Puri, is looking forward to it. "This is a very good initiative by the BCCI. It will give an opportunity to those who don't get a chance in the BCCI scheme of things," Ghavri told MiD DAY yesterday.
Ghavri, who claimed 109 Test wickets, stressed that the idea is to find genuine quick bowlers from the trials. We are going to look for pacers who can bowl really quick. We will not lay emphasis on his run-up, line and length, and accuracy, as these guys are very raw. Once they are shortlisted, we can teach them the basics at the academy," said Ghavri, who featured in 39 Tests and 19 ODIs, claiming 109 and 19 wickets respectively. In the case of spinners, Ghavri said emphasis would be on turn and natural loop.
It must be noted, pacer Umesh Yadav, 24, the find of India's ongoing tour Down Under, has also come up the ranks through such trials in lesser-known Vidarbha. Being a son of a coal miner, Yadav thought of having a career in cricket at the age of 19. Success of fellow pacer Varun Aaron, 22, is also similar after being spotted by a talent scout at the age of 15 in Jharkhand.
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