‘Work hard and master your craft’

Sri Lankarsquos legendary pace bowler Chaminda Vaas couldnrsquot have asked for a better time to be in India While the mornings were spent coaching and mentoring aspiring fast bowlers the evenings were about watching the recentlyconcluded Indian Premier League Vaas a veteran of 355 Test and 400 ODI wickets was in Mumbai for a weeklong coaching program organised by Mumbai Cricket Club and Jwala Singhrsquos Sports Foundation at the Air India Sports Club ground Kalina Santacruz The former leftarm pacer who was part of Sri Lankarsquos 1996 World Cupwinning team took time off for middayrsquos Masterclass where budding pace bowlers got to learn the nuances of the game straight from the legendEdited excerpts from the interactionOn Sri Lankarsquos fast bowling evolutionWe have enough fast bowlers but how we train them and how we take them into the future is a big question Firstclass cricket has to be topclass and fitness has to be the number one priority for fast bowlers We have enough talent to pursue fast bowling in Sri LankaOn his 400th ODI wicketmdashYuvraj SinghAs a cricketer when you play for the country you never go for records All I wanted is to do well for my team for my country but the 400th wicket was special The whole world knows who Yuvraj Singh is hersquos a great cricketer from India and I was really pleased to take his wicket for my 400thOn Indiarsquos pace bowling evolutionOver the years India have produced so many good fast bowlersmdashKapil Dev to Javagal Srinath then Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah India have produced so many good fast bowlers in the IPL too like Umran Malik He has a lot of potential and itrsquos great to see him being picked for India There are quite a few leftarmers who have come up Mohsin Khan who played for Lucknow Super Giants was very impressive I think India are in safe hands when it comes to fast bowling In the last two years India have been doing really well in Tests onedayers and T20 cricket and there will be many more to emerge from the IPLOn the toughest batsman he has bowled toThere were so many tough battersmdashSachin Tendulkar Brian Lara Adam Gilchrist Matthew Hayden Shahid Afridi They all were great and not easy to bowl to We had to bowl a perfect line to them and hope for them to make a mistakeChaminda Vaas interacts with young fast bowlers at KalinaOn the art of reverse swingIt differs from person to person For a leftarm pacer the natural swing is inswing If you take a rightarm fast bowler the natural swing is outswing So you have to master your stock ball If you do that you will be able to get wickets and practise other stuff like slower balls and variations As a fast bowler you have to practise for many many hours If you develop those skills you can be a great bowlerOn the ideal grip for outswingFor a leftarm fast bowler the fingers will point towards fine leg and the wrist has to be very firm if you want to bowl an inswinger to a righthanded batsman The shiny side should be on the left But if you want to bowl outswing the shiny part has to be on the right side and your fingers should point towards first slip When you deliver the ball you have to show your palm to the batsman and finger towards slip If you are able to roll the finger perfectly then the ball does everything for youChaminda Vaas displays a seam positionOn the importance of head positionTo bowl quick you have to have a nice rhythmical runup good technique back foot landing which can be sideways or front open Then it depends how you gather the ball Once you gather itrsquos how you stride release the ball and then follow through Once you do everything in line things will fall into place Perfect examples are Dale Steyn Brett Lee Mitchell Starc These are all 145plus kmph bowlers Their running technique stride follow through how they release the ball their head positionmdasheverything is in line If your head is falling that means your action is not completeOn the importance of wrist positionA fast bowler needs to have a nice wrist position to bowl good outswing or inswing If you hit the seam properly the bowler has the advantage with the ball moving away or coming in according to the grip The wrist position becomes vitalmdashfingers behind and palm has to be shown to the batsman all the time It shouldnrsquot be forgotten that the game has always been advantageous for batters Even pitches are prepared for batters and bats nowadays are so different So bowlers have to be clever enough to tackle all these things and master their craft to do wellChaminda Vaas left with Lasith Malinga PicGetty ImagesOn how Lasith Malinga trainedMalinga used to bowl maybe 60 balls at a stretch till he was satisfied with the yorkers Every fast bowler has skills but you have to practise till you reach perfection Even if you have finished bowling to the batters in the nets you have to do spot bowling get to your length get your yorkers and slower balls going Thatrsquos how you will get betterOn an ideal bowling actionThere is no ideal fast bowling action Even scientists canrsquot say that side on or the openchested one is the perfect action Fast bowlers will get injured irrespective of your action That is why fitness is key There are fast bowlers with strong physiques there are bowlers who are rhythmical You have to find out which type of a fast bowler you are and train accordingly There are so many strengthconditioning exercisesWhen I started playing cricket I had a mixed bowling action Most people said that I wonrsquot be able to play for the country for many years But I took it as a challenge and proved that even though I have a mixed action I can perform The areas which I focused on were my front leg my back But being a fast bowler you will never be 100 per cent fit Yoursquoll always have a niggle and you need to have courage to play with those niggles Of the three departmentsmdashbatting bowling and fielding fast bowling is the most difficult Being a fast bowler you need to have a big heart Even in 3540 degrees temperature the captain will come and tell you to bowl for me You canrsquot complain you have to bowl You need fitness commitment and dedication If you have all these things you can become a great fast bowlerYour advice to youngsters who want to master reverse swingBefore reverse swing young bowlers have to learn running techniques We call fast bowlers athletes If you donrsquot have good a running technique you wonrsquot be able to be a good fast bowler So the running technique and action are vital If you talk about actionmdashtherersquos the sideon action fronton and mixed action If you have a mixed action you wonrsquot be able to bowl quick and yoursquoll tend to get injuredOn the challenges with the red and white balls for different formatsThe red ball swings for many overs If you shine the ball properly you can swing the ball many times But when it comes to the white ball it will swing for only first five to six overs You need to have the right technique to swing the ball and the right technique to take wickets There is not much difference between red and white balls but if you know the art of fast bowling itrsquos easy Fast bowling is not rocket science