Ravindra Pushpakumara turns talent hunter
A member of the 1996 Wolrd Cup winning team, Ravindra Pushpakumara is presently in- charge of nurturing the younger generation of fast bowlers at Sri Lanka Cricket’s High Performance centre at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
"My responsibility is to train the next generation of fast bowlers and readying them to the national level. We have a good set of fast bowlers at the moment but we need to transform them into match winners," explaining his role, Pushpakumara said.
According to him, in the last five years, Sri Lanka cricket had the luxury of having 80 to 90 fast bowlers island-wide.
"I think Sri Lanka cricket is fortunate to have the amount of fast bowlers at present. We carried out fast bowling workshops island- wide to identify their skills. I am pleased to tell you that we were amazed to see their abilities. Now we have to work on their accuracy. To be a great fast bowler, you need to be accurate. That is our main focus now," he noted.
Pushpakumara also explained that his department work closely with the National teams and up to now they have been able to get their ideas and move forward, which will be beneficial for the future of Sri Lanka cricket.
"The National Selection Committee, led by Asantha de Mel, is working very closely with us, which is a usual process. In the recent years we have noticed a decline of fast bowlers. Notably when Test matches are played on home soil, Sri Lanka opted to play a sole fast bowler," Pushpakumara explained.
"In our days we did not have that problem. Chaminda Vaas, Pramodya Wickramasinghe and I had only two formats to concentrate. Today we have a packed schedule and we have all three formats top look at. For a fast bowler it is important to have adequate amount of rest. As coaches it is our responsibility to monitor their workload as well as their fitness levels," he insisted.
Countries like England and Australia rest players to manage their workload and sometimes they use fringe players, so that they will able to get an idea in building up the team for the future.
Pushpakumara said that they are also looking to work on a programme that is focusing on workload management. At the same time they are looking to build a team for the future.
Pushpakumara outlined the recently concluded Pakistan tour as an example where Sri Lanka was able to test their bench strength, which is his terms, should be a momentum that must continue.
"The fitness standards of our fast bowlers have been a problem for a long time. Players like Dushmantha Chameera and Binura Fernando were promising youngsters and a lot was expected from them. But unfortunately they were plagued by hamstring and back injuries," hinting that the duo could return to the team after improving their fitness leve l s, Pushpakumara said.
In the recent past, Pushpakumara observed that miscommunication between the coaching staff and fitness trainers, resulted in many fast bowlers experiencing frequent i n j u r i e s. But t oday, Pushpakumara stated, the whole system is intact, with national interest being the prime interest. And when the fast bowler is overused, Pushpakumara recommends rest will play a key factor in their sustainability.
"When preparing players for a Test series, we follow a specific procedure, notably managing their workloads. We advise them to have adequate rest and at the same time the fitness trainers keep an eye on the fitness levels. We always want to make sure that our players won’t breakdown when a series is ongoing," he elaborated.
Despite being top level bowlers at international level, and coaches with experience, even Pushpakumara still attends workshops. It is obligatory that even coaches get themselves updated every now and then, he believes. With updated knowledge, Pushpakumara explained, even coaches could easily contribute players in injury management and the recovery process. Throughout the rehabilitation process the coaches, physiotherapists and the fitness trainers work together as a team.
"Most fast bowlers suffer from back injuries and stress fractures. It takes at least four to six weeks to heal and after that coaches advise them to start training. After a week they recommend a specific number of overs and the fitness trainers monitor his fitness levels and gradually increase the number of overs until he becomes fit to play competitive cricket," explaining on an injured player's recovery process, Pushpakumara said.
A fast bowler drains a huge amount of energy in the Twenty20 format and despite the heavy workload, Pushpakumara believed that the present group of fast bowlers can play all three formats if they maintain their fitness standards.
Pushpakumara, who played Tests and ODIs, was the first Sri Lankan bowler to train under Dennis Lillee at the MRF Academy in India in 1992. He considered Sri Lanka of having similar facilities to train the next generation of fast bowlers.
Pushpakumara admired other fast bowling coaches, Chaminda Vaas, Chamila Gamage and Darshana Gamage for their contribution to develop the next set of fast bowlers. In addition Sri Lanka Cricket will also plan to rake in Pakistani great Wasim Akram to improve the standard of local fast bowlers.
"Wasim (Akram) is the best left-arm fast bowler in the world. Chaminda Vaas and Wasim Akram are the best bowlers that I have ever seen. Our fast bowlers will have a lot to learn from Wasim," he disclosed, highlighting the need to feature of a leftarm fast bowler in the team.
This he said, will create a balanced pace attack.
"The future looks promising. We have a good team at the moment. I think Dimuth (Karunaratne) can take Sri Lanka cricket forward," giving his thoughts on the national side, he said.
The division Pushpakumara and his band of fast- bowling coaches are toiling hard to create a formidable brigade of paceman. They are targeting the ICC World Cup in 2023.
"We have fast bowlers for the next 10 years, which means our contribution of fast bowlers could help Sri Lanka have a formidable team for the next World Cup in 2023," Pushpakumara concluded.