To replicate last season’s fine showing may not be easy. But Hyderabad’s newly-appointed bowling coach Narender Pal Singh prefers to dwell on the positives in the quest to take the campaign further.
When playing alongside Mohd. Azharuddin, V.V.S. Laxman, Venkatapathy Raju and Noel David, Hyderabad had figured in the final once and in the semifinals four times.
“Laxman and I share the regret of not lifting the Ranji Trophy. What I couldn’t as a player, I hope to achieve as a coach,” the side’s spearhead himself till about a decade ago, told The Hindu .
“Bowling will be our strength as it played a key role in Hyderabad’s return to the Ranji Trophy Elite set,” said the former new ball operator. While not discounting the batting contribution, he felt the bowlers had a bigger hand in reviving the side’s fortunes.
His confidence that the present pace quartet of Mohd. Siraj, M. Ravi Kiran, C.V. Milind and Ashish Reddy would deliver in due course was obvious.
With three home and as many away matches to start with this time, how would he tackle the host’s poor showing on home turf until as recently as two years ago ? “I am hoping for greener wickets,” he replied.
Wouldn’t it be tough to carry on the good work of last season’s coach Bharat Arun, now with the Indian team ? “He mentored me when I played one season for Chemplast in Chennai. In a way he’s a guru and as pacemen we understood each other well. So do I hope to enjoy a good rapport with his successor J. Arun Kumar, the two of us knowing each other from our under-19 days,” said the Assistant Manager with State Bank of India.
“I hope to use the MRF Pace Foundation experience to exploit different kinds of wickets. We’ll plot the dismissal of each batsman,” he said.
As one who found success in movement off the pitch, would he stress more on that quality? “Nowadays pace is a must but I hope to help each bowler capitalise on his individual capabilities,” he said of the work ethic inherited from the astute and late legend M.L. Jaisimha.
“NP incidentally began as a one-down batsman with MP Sporting, later became an all-rounder and then specialised as a bowler. He was in the India probables for the under-19 World Cup in the early nineties,” recalled S. Venkateswaran, his first coach/manager and former secretary of the Hyderabad Cricket Association.
