"Correct bad habits early"

MUMBAI, October 23: The objections raised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) over young Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh's bowl...

MUMBAI, October 23: The objections raised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) over young Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh’s bowling action has stirred a hornet’s nest in cricketing circles across the country. The former Indian captain Dilip Vengsarkar, while terming the incident as “unfortunate”, feels that the problem and its solution could well lie at the grassroots of the game in India.

“From whatever I have seen of Harbhajan I do not have an iota of doubt that he has not got a suspect action,” Vengsarkar said in defence of the Punjab lad.

“Having said that, I perceive that these kind of objections would be raised every now and then,” he remarks pointing to the faulty techniques that a bowler acquires during his formative years in the country.

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Laying emphasis on the under-14 tournaments that are played in the country the former Test batsman even advocates certain changes in the rules of the game for such tourneys which he feels will not only go a long way in erasing the errors thatunknowingly creep in but also ensure a better crop of bowlers.

“What is happening now is that children competing in under-14 tournaments are forced to play on regular 22-yard tracks. It is not physically possible for them to make the ball reach the distance while bowling. In the process, they tend to develop faulty techniques which they carry on to first-class games. And by the time realisation dawns upon them it is too late.”

The solution, he says lies in adopting the Australian pattern. “The Australian cricket module features a 20-yard strip for the under-14 tournaments. Besides, they also use smaller cricket balls (four and a half ounce, one ounce less than the customary).”

Vengsarkar, who runs the Elf-Vengsarkar Cricket Academy at Oval Maidan here, is also not averse to implement such a format during the academy’s annual under-14 tourney. “We are planning to introduce such a format this season,” he disclosed while speaking to The Indian Express on Friday.

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“The BCCI has to wake up nowand take remedial measures. Though we don’t have any u-14 tournaments at the national level, it becomes all the more pertinent for the BCCI to step in,” he added.