Aaron's 'best performance' softens World Cup blow

Varun Aaron said that his six-wicket haul on the opening day of the Irani Cup has soothed some of his disappointment at missing out on India's World Cup squad.

"Domestic-wise, I rank it as my best performance" Aaron said. "I have been really cross with myself at not making it into the World Cup and this is the only way I could make myself feel a bit better."

Aaron revealed that he had spent some time working on his bowling with Dennis Lillee in Perth before returning home from India's tour of Australia.

"I had a lot of free time so I spoke to Dennis Lillee and spent around a week to ten days with him in Perth," Aaron said. "He was very helpful. A few pieces were missing and the time I spent with him did a lot of good to me."

Aaron didn't divulge too many details when asked to elaborate on what exactly these missing pieces were.

"We worked on a few things on my bowling. He just remodelled a few things which are working for me now."

Rest of India opened their bowling with Shardul Thakur and Rishi Dhawan, and Aaron said he was happy coming on as a first-change bowler if the team wanted him to play that role.

"I was asked to bowl one-change today," Aaron said. "Rishi Dhawan is more of a swing bowler. Manoj Tiwary said to bowl him for three overs, because once the ball gets old it's a little more difficult for him. He is a great bowler nevertheless. Whatever suits the team I am happy with it."

The last of Aaron's six wickets came via a back-of-the-hand slower ball that trapped Abhimanyu Mithun lbw and wrapped up Karnataka's innings. Aaron said he was pleased that the change-up came off, and said it was important the Rest of India bowlers thought outside the box to make a dent in a Karnataka line-up high on confidence.

"I was satisfied with that," he said. "I changed a few things here and there, because these guys have been doing well throughout the season. If we stuck to simple things, I doubt if it would have worked because Karun Nair just came back after a brilliant 300 in the Ranji Trophy final, and everybody is on a high at the moment. I think it was important for us to deliver as a team and get them all out as early as possible."