Left-arm pacers thrive, give India abundance of options

MUMBAI: Indian cricket has not just begun to enjoy an abundance of fast bowling options, several among them are leftarmers, who were once rare in the domestic game.

Seldom has a single IPL season thrown up so many Indian left-arm quicks of such varied skills as this one.

Mohsin Khan is nippy with a deceptive slower ball while Mukesh Choudhary swings his way to powerplay wickets. If Yash Dayal controls the middle overs with sharp bouncers, Arshdeep Singh aces his yorkers at the death. Then there are the comeback artists—T Natarajan and Khaleel Ahmed.

Each bowler may be at different stages of development. But the national selectors would hope to identify the best among them for the immediate future with a World Cup around the corner, and keep an eye out on the others for the long-term. India have searched for a durable left-arm pacer since Zaheer Khan retired, to add variety to their potent pace attack, but only Jaydev Unadkat had come even to the fringes.

Two among them whose names went under the radar at the auction—Mohsin and Choudhary—enjoyed a super Sunday. The stand-out showing of 23-year-old Mohsin (4-0-16-4) won the day for Lucknow Super Giants against Delhi Capitals. In the evening, 25-year-old Mukesh Choudhary’s fourwicket haul for Chennai Super Kings stopped Sunrisers Hyderabad in their pursuit of their target of 203. The two share 19 wickets in 12 matches, handsome returns for players who were bought at their modest base price of ₹20 lakh.

“I played him (Mohsin) in the nets a month ago and then didn’t want to face him. He was sharp. At times, scary in the nets,” LSG captain KL Rahul gushed on Sunday. “It’s not just pace, he has a good brain and skill as well. He has a great slower one and knows when to use it.”

Mohsin was with Mumbai Indians for three years, but didn’t get to play as Kiwi leftarmer Trent Boult was in the side. At LSG he is rated highly and has taken eight wickets including Sunday’s four-for.

“From the time, I began bowling when I was 9-10, I would not look for swing. I would always look to bowl fast,” Mohsin said. He is the second left-arm pacer from Uttar Pradesh, after Yash Dayal, to announce himself this season.

Mohsin hails from Sambhal while Dayal comes from Prayagraj. Dayal was called up as a reserve to the India team and had attracted a bidding war before going to Gujarat Titans for ₹3.2 crore.