CHENNAI :It’s difficult to be a spinner in the Jharkhand team. One needs to be better than just good to come out of the shadows of Shahbaz Nadeem, who has been spinning a web around batsmen in this edition of Vijay Hazare Trophy. His second five-wicket haul of the event took his team to a big win against Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.
Bowling from the other end was Anukul Roy (in pic), another left-arm spinner. Unlike Nadeem, the 19-year-old doesn’t boast of five-fors or eight-fors. He isn’t a spearhead, having taken six wickets from four matches. But he contains. His economy rate in this tournament is 3.65.
Even during the 2018 U-19 World Cup in February, when India unearthed fast bowlers Shivam Mavi and Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Roy silently picked up 14 wickets in six matches (joint-leading wicket-taker) at an economy of 3.84.
And he is not only about bowling. With his team tottering at 126/7, the spinner unfurled his batting abilities during an unbeaten 96 off 72 balls which contained four fours and seven sixes. It was his 77-run partnership with Nadeem that took Jharkhand to 221/8.
Hailing from Samastipur in Bihar, Roy is reluctant to talk about his batting and credits his senior for valuable inputs. “Nadeem bhai has a lot to offer,” said Roy. “The first thing you learn from him is bowling with accuracy. That’s why he is so successful. Varying the pace is another aspect I need to work on.”
“In one-dayers and T20s, it’s important to change pace according to the situation. He is good at reading the game. In the last match against Tamil Nadu, I was bowling a bit fast. He asked me to slow it down. That helped me take three wickets.”
With a similar style of bowling, coach Rajiv Kumar feels that it is easy for Nadeem — who also turns out for Nelson SC in the TNCA First Division league — to understand Roy’s game and help him out.
“They compliment each other. Nadeem is a mature bowler and on the other hand, Anukul has good potential. He is keen to learn. Nadeem has been playing domestic cricket for 14-15 years. He has played against almost every team and knows the conditions better. You don’t get turning pitches in the east nor do you play in such humid conditions. For someone like Anukul, who is not aware of the Chennai pitches, it’s of massive help (bowling with Nadeem). Also, it becomes easy to communicate if the other bowler is also a left-arm spinner. As a coach it’s satisfying to see them adapt to the heat and conditions,” said the 41-year-old.
With youth and experience winning matches for Jharkhand, the team will be looking to better their performance from their last season, when they crashed out in the semifinals.
srinidhi@newindianexpress.com
Elite Group c
In Chennai
Jharkhand 221/8 in 50 ovs (Roy 96 n.o; Raza 3/51) bt J&K 148 in 42.2 ovs (Nadeem 5/17).
Tamil Nadu 334/4 in 50 ovs (Shankar 129, Indrajith 92) bt Assam 204 in 44.1 ovs.
Haryana 304 in 49.2 ovs (Chandila 88) bt Rajasthan 157 in 46.4 ovs (Patel 3/19).