Emerging Indian quicks to train under McGrath

The BCCI will send current and upcoming Indian fast bowlers to the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai to train under former Australian quick Glenn McGrath, the director of the foundation. The arrangement was announced after the BCCI signed a five-year agreement with the academy.

"It has been a wonderful couple of years for me at the MRF Pace Foundation. I now eagerly look forward to working with India's best at the foundation," McGrath said. "Our facilities compare favourably with the best in the world and I am eagerly looking forward to this challenge."

The bowlers being sent to Chennai will be split into two categories - elite and probables.

Those bowlers who have been selected by the BCCI to play in official matches will fall under the elite category, and will be trained in batches of ten over a period of two weeks. The probables list will include 20 upcoming fast bowlers identified and shortlisted by the national selectors.

Some of the bowlers selected to train at the academy include India bowlers Varun Aaron, Ashok Dinda, as well as others like Rahul Shukla, Ishwar Pandey and Anureet Singh.

"Varun Aaron bowled well, he was the pick of the bowlers in my view," McGrath told IBNlive. "Ishwar Pandey, if he had got the opportunity, would have done an exceptional job too. There is a lot of potential there. India did not finish that tour very well but I though that Varun Aaron was one of the positives to come out of that tour.

"I will be looking forward to what they do, but hopefully the techniques, and impart what used to help me, to get them to the top quicker, but also to keep them bowling quick and bowling for a long time.

"It's with the T20 format, bowlers bowling six different balls in a row and not getting that consistency," he said. "At the end of the day, it's all about control. Having the physical and mental strength to play cricket day in and day out, but as a fast bowler, you need to have the control as well as pace. That's one thing that most bowlers lack, the ability to ball six balls… it's not so much about the control, it's about the thinking. Instead of building pressure, they are looking to take a wicket every second ball.The best coach these bowlers will have is themselves. They need to be able to have that control. "

"The BCCI is pleased to initiate this partnership with the MRF Pace Foundation, an institution where several outstanding pace bowlers have honed their skills over the past three decades," BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said. "These individuals have done the country proud with their achievements in all forms of the game. We are confident that this partnership will help produce many more quick bowlers, who will bring glory to India in the years to come."