At an age when most players begin planning their retirements, Yere Goud, the 36-year-old Ranji veteran for Railways, is busy working on his new batting grip to negotiate reverse swing. Goud is using a custom-made inner, which has a half cut ball stiched inside, while batting in the nets.

“I have been using it for some time now. Basically this year, I want to use my top hand more while manoeuvring the incoming ball, and that’s why I am using it during nets,” Goud says, adding, “I’ll never use them during a match.”

“Middle-order batsmen like me are more prone to reverse swing. The ball starts to reverse around the 30-35th over and bowlers aim at your pads or the stumps. I am doing all this to counter them,” says Goud, who made his first-class debut way back in the 1994-95 season. Hungry for runs and striving for constant improvement, he has also shortened his back lift. “Nowadays I play with a low back lift,” he adds.

Good start
In his first match back with the Railways last week in Bangalore, Goud made an unbeaten 122, helping the team take three points based on first innings lead over Karnataka — the side he had played for last year. “I had some personal problems and so Railways gave me a 2 year-old NOC to play there. This year after coming back in the Elite Division, they called me,” he says when quizzed about his shifting base from Bangalore.

His Bangalore innings may have been very good for the side, but it made his pocket lighter by Rs 500 for breaking team discipline. “I played with a blue helmet on. The team got a new green coloured helmet on the second day of the match and I wasn’t too comfortable with it. I continued playing with my older one and hence the fine,” he says with a smile.

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