Varun Aaron

Seeing India’s fast bowling woes yesterday (Lord’s Test, London) on a seaming wicket under overcast conditions on a day 1 pitch got me thinking about a conversation I had with one of my friends last week. He’s one of the few from my Cricketing circle who is still playing, and at close to the highest level. I asked him who he thought was the fastest bowler in India and he unhesitatingly mentioned Varun Aaron of Jharkhand and said that this kid needs to be fast-tracked into the Indian team. Subsequently, I read somewhere that Aaron managed to hit 153kmph in a Ranji game, which is genuinely quick. I checked out his bowling on youtube and saw a lot of promise. Good built, easy action (though can be much better, and hence he can get much quicker), great wrist position...he’s got all the raw material to be a fine fast bowler.
When I was in active Cricket, I always wanted to be a fast bowler. While I would not have admitted it then, I now feel that I did not have the physique that one requires to bowl consistently fast over a few seasons. At my peak, I was a fairly nippy customer, but not genuinely fast. Fast bowling has always fascinated me and I get excited to see any promising talent. I remember getting excited when I first saw VRV Singh, Munaf Patel (yes, he was in the ‘fast’ category at one time) and Ishant Sharma. From a fast bowling perspective, all have turned out to be disappointing, though Ishant is still capable of hitting the mid 140’s and is still only 22, so no judgement on him yet. I just hope that Varun keeps his pace up and gets into the Indian squad sooner rather than later, for we desperately need a genuine speedster.