County cricket’s dream route for Indians

The success of left-arm seamers in India in recent past — Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan and Ashish Nehra — have been a major reason for Leicestershire to invite Rudra Pratap Singh to join their ranks in county cricket.

The success of left-arm seamers in India in recent past — Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan and Ashish Nehra — have been a major reason for Leicestershire to invite Rudra Pratap Singh to join their ranks in county cricket.

RP signed his contract with the Foxes early this year, especially after it has been widely noticed the way Zaheer and his left-arm swing single-handedly helped Worcestershire get promoted to the first division.

“Zaheer was extremely successful. In RP’s case, it was Greg Chappell who recommended him. His action and swing have been very impressive in the first two Tests against England. He is quick also, and can derive the best from English conditions,” says chief coach at Leicestershire, Tim Boon.

RP’s bowling in the current series has left the Foxes patting their own backs for the decision they made. Boon has often talked about the prospect of having RP and Stuart Broad (of England) as his main attacking bowlers.

However, it looks like the bowler is in for a long and continuous stint with the Indian team with a packed international calendar ahead.

Interestingly, struggling Indian cricketers have found English county cricket providing them with a way to make it back to he big league.

Zaheer Khan made a comeback into the Indian team after a superb stint at Worcestershire. Sourav Ganguly spent quality time at Northamptonshire to find his lost touch. Harbhajan Singh is now in Surrey trying to get out of the wilderness. And for Virender Sehwag, who is now out of the India squad, this might have been a natural way out, but right now, he is not associated with any English county team.

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But people here, at Leicester, remember his rather successful stint at this county in 2003, which was unfortunately cut short because of a niggling back injury.

Boon — who was then working with the England Under-19 team — said it was an excellent idea to invite the Delhi opener. “He was highly popular for his style of batting, very exciting. Someone who could lure the crowd to the ground,” he says.

Boon remembers former county coach Phil Whitticase talking about Sehwag, the way he “had brought a sense of one-day urgency in the longer version of the game.”

Sehwag had impressed in the Twenty20 also, some useful performances that had helped the team win their first five matches in succession and healthy contribution with his off-spin too. It was a setback, says the county authorities here, that he had to return to India so abruptly.

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But now, club officials are silent, and it doesn’t seem likely that Sehwag will get a call up from this county.