A fruitful trip down under

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Yomahesh, Ravi Teja sing praises of training More... A fruitful trip down under Principal Correspondent Yomahesh, Ravi Teja sing praises of training BANGALORE: The words ‘fitness’, ‘fielding’ and ‘intensity’ were a constant refrain as Yomahesh and Ravi Teja spoke about their recent stint at the Commonwealth Bank Centre for Excellence Australian Cricket Academy in Brisbane as part of the Border-Gavaskar Scholarship. The duo along with Cheteshwar Pujara, the other scholarship winner, returned to Bangalore, late on Sunday night after a month-long training program that taught them the Aussie approach to cricket. Picture of delight Pujara left for Delhi, early on Monday morning while Yomahesh and Ravi Teja left for Chennai and Hyderabad respectively later in the day. Yomahesh was a picture of delight as he spoke about the joy of being a fast bowler on Australian pitches. “It was my first visit there and it was great being there. It felt really nice to bowl on those pitches that helped the fast bowlers. I enjoyed it. Basically there was a lot of emphasis on fitness and fielding. When compared to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) here, we had shorter sessions there in Australia but the intensity was higher. We had a lot of one-to-one sessions with our coaches and it helped,” Yomahesh said. Former India coach Greg Chappell also interacted with the players. “He spent a week with us and it was helpful,” said Yomahesh. The Tamil Nadu seamer primarily trained under bowling coach Troy Cooley. Meanwhile for Ravi Teja, it was a question of cashing in on a sudden opportunity. The India under-19 player and Hyderabad opener, who also bowls leg-breaks, was on the stand-bye list for the scholarship initially. He, however, got a lucky break when leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, the original choice, had to report to the Indian bowlers’ camp at Mysore before leaving for the tour of Ireland and England. Teja missed out on a week as he had to fly out belatedly to Australia. “I lost the first week of the five-week program but I managed well as initially the coaches worked on our fitness and fielding. My fielding has really improved and as for my batting, I worked on changing my grip a bit so that I could bat straighter in the ‘V’. “We learnt about how the Aussies prepare and we also got exposed to their conditions. Now I am waiting to play in the Hyderabad league,” Teja said. Rated highly Former Hyderabad off-spinner Kanwaljit Singh, NCA spin coach, rates Teja high. “He is a very talented lad and is a bright prospect.