The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Venkatapathi Raju — refreshing sight of a fit coach

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Venkatapathi Raju — refreshing sight of a fit coach

V.V. Subrahmanyam

The presence of V.V.S. Laxman should be a motivating factor
The coach serves a note of warning to his boys

— Photo: P.V. Sivakumar

Venkatapathi Raju.

HYDERABAD: S.L. Venkatapathi Raju, who will be coaching the Hyderabad Ranji Trophy squad this season, has begun jotting down notes. Better still, he even gives them to the players after one-to-one sessions.

For instance — Ambati Rayudu: Has to realise the value of his wicket; Abhinav Kumar: Should work on being a better wicketkeeper — were some of the notes he had made.

Expectation

His notes describe his expectations from the players in the season ahead and also highlight their strong points and areas of improvement.

“Frankly, the players just cannot complain about the preparations which have been going on well with support from all quarters,” Raju told The Hindu, three days ahead of Hyderabad’s Ranji campaign against Himachal Pradesh.

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Raju presents a refreshing sight of a coach being as fit as some of the younger players in contrast to the recent past when some of them were sorry advertisements for the job.

“The presence of V.V.S. Laxman at the start of the season (he will not be available for three games later on) should be a big motivating factor for the boys,” said 40-year-old Raju.

“We did have a good start to the season last time too but faltered mid-way through and we are keen to avoid it this time,” Raju said.

“Apparently, medium-pace bowling (Ashwin Yadav, Alfred Absolom and M.P. Arjun) is our strength. Spin is a bit of a worry as we have to bank only on India star and left-armer Pragyan Ojha,” he replied on a query regarding the bowling.

Solid batting

“Batting looks solid with the likes of Laxman and Rayudu (coming back this season after the ICL stint).

“The point is that stroke-making looks okay but one has to pace the innings as the situation demands. For instance, of the nine centuries last season, none of them were match-winning but mostly match-saving,” he said.

Making a point

“Essentially, I am stressing to them that there is no point in being just there in the Elite Group without actually qualifying for the knockout phase,” the former India left-arm spinner said.

“To make it big at the highest level you have to score plenty of runs and take a lot of wickets. One odd century or a five-wicket haul will do no good either to the team or for the player himself,” he said.

“The thing is that we are capable of producing far better performances. For that we have to be really consistent,” said Raju.

The Hyderabad coach also served a note of warning to his boys when he said that that no one should take his place for granted.

Performances matter

“Only performances matter and not reputations; exactly for this reason I have ensured that the fringe players are also training along with the Ranji squad,” Raju said.

How difficult was it for him to be the coach?

“Not really. Being the selector last season I know these boys well. And more over, I don’t talk big about challenges or huge goals. I wish to take it match by match as I did during my playing days,” Raju said.

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