Vaisakh Chandran corrects bowling action, regains his rhythm

The last two seasons were forgettable for off-spinner Vaisakh Chandran. A finger injury, followed by a shoulder injury, sidelined him. In between, he lost his bowling action and, consequently, his wicket-taking ability. The Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka at the KCA Stadium in Mangalapuram last season was particularly chastening; he was savaged by Karun Nair and R. Smaran, conceding over 100 runs at nearly five runs an over. His shoulder injury then flared up, forcing him to spend the rest of the season in rehabilitation.

“I knew something was wrong but I was helpless. I was just going through the motions in the match against Karnataka. The shoulder was hurting as well. I felt a sharp pain on my right shoulder whenever I threw the ball while fielding. I think I over-bowled in the nets. I was told to bowl 30 overs daily during practice by our former coach and I followed it. The pain worsened, forcing me to consult a doctor who advised rest,”

During his rehabilitation, he watched the video of the Karnataka match and compared them with old footage and realised his bowling action had changed drastically.

“I went back to the drawing board, worked on my action. I also sought the help of Biju George, who pointed out the flaws and helped me to correct them,” he said.

“It is a common problem for all bowlers to lose their original action when they play a lot. Every bowler has a specific arm slot from which he delivers the ball comfortably. In Vaisakh’s case his release point and arm path were different from his earlier action. I made slight adjustments to his loading and recoil and things fell into place,” Biju.explained.

Vaisakh struck a fine rhythm during Kerala’s practice matches against Jammu and Kashmir and against Hyderabad, picking up wickets which brought him back into contention for Ranji Trophy. He out-bowled his senior partners Jalaj Saxena and Aditya Sarvate on a flat track in Jamshedpur to take a five-wicket haul. Against Odisha too, Vaisakh was the highest wicket-taker in the first innings.

“Coach (Swapnil) Asnodkar sir asked me to bowl a little slower through the air, and I followed it. Now I am able to extract more from the surface, and by mixing the pace I can confuse the batters. Bowling in tandem with Jalaj and Sarvate has been incredibly helpful for learning about field settings and the type of deliveries to bowl to specific batters. They are always there to help me. And sometimes we plot the dismissal of a batter together, “ he said.