NAGPUR: With India comfortably placed at the end of the second day’s play at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur, Australian batters knew it was only a matter of time. Yet they had to try and bat as long as possible if they wish to save the inaugural Test of the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
That did not happen despite Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Matt Renshaw and Peter Handscomb hitting the nets in the morning on Saturday. As Indian spinners including off-break bowler R Ashwin troubled them in the first essay, they wanted to face an offie. There were several bowlers, but one among them stood out; Gurudas Raut. He was bowling with one arm. He suffers with congenital amputation of his left-arm with a below-the-elbow section missing.
Despite being a medium-pacer, Raut bowled off-spin for the Aussie batters. It was a rare sight for the visitors and Labuschagne was particularly impressed with what he had just faced at the Jamtha nets. “Labuschagne was surprised as well as impressed. ‘I have never seen a one-handed bowler bowling so well,’ he complimented me,” Raut told this daily even as he waited for more batters to reach the nets in the afternoon.
India opener Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, wicketkeeper-batters Ishan Kishan and KS Bharat also faced Raut during their respective training sessions. Ishan, whom Raut claimed to have got out twice during the session, was all praise for the bowler. In a video message shared by Raut, Ishan could be heard praising the bowler by saying, “You actually bowled very well. Just keep doing the hard work and ignore the outside noise. Keep bowling the way you have been doing.”