DHARAMSALA:“I really did not know about that,” exclaimed Krishnamoorthy Vignesh after being informed that his name had recently found a place on Wikipedia. “I’ll go back and check it out.”
Though entries on the open-for-all online encyclopedia aren’t really worth writing home about, the date — October 6, to be exact — on which the Tamil Nadu pacer’s page was brought into being makes it seem as if the creator had been dabbling in the art of soothsaying.
After a few hours of that entry, Vignesh had already taken three wickets against Mumbai on his Ranji debut. The next day, it turned into a fifer. Though Tamil Nadu lost the match with a day to spare, Vignesh had nine wickets to his name at the end.
Clairvoyance or not, the 22-year-old had made heads turn. Vignesh’s tryst with the world of cricket started at the age of 11, but it began at the diametrically opposite end of the 22-yard strip. “I started off at the age of 11 as a top-order batsman, a role that I took upon even during my U-13 and U-14 days. I used to bowl fast as well, and I eventually started focusing on that more. Nobody told me to,” he reminisces.
The Ambattur resident, who also has a house in T Nagar due to his first-division commitments with the Jolly Rovers, eventually landed a place in the state’s U-19 squad. “After that, I was in and out of the T20 squad, but never got the chance to play. During that time, I concentrated on the First Division, and simultaneously put in hours with Glenn McGrath at the MRF Pace Academy in Chennai.”
A mention of the Australian pace legend’s name evokes a more-detailed recollection from Vignesh about how he benefitted from his tutelage. “With him, it’s more about passing down experiences rather than just tinkering with technicalities. He used to tell me about how he would bowl in a particular situation, and then couple it with scenario-specific bowling drills. Senthil Nathan sir too helped out. This, coupled with the backing I got from Jayakumar sir and Bharath Reddy sir at Jolly Rovers, helped me winnow out my flaws.”
rahulravi@newindianexpress.com