Vidwath embraces Arvind's methods to find success

Still basking in the afterglow of his maiden seven-for, Vidwath Kaverappa admitted on Friday that he based his bowling on former Karnataka seamer Sreenath Arvind for, like the latter, the former too doesn't possess the pace to trouble batters.

And not unlike Arvind, Vidwath too has enough in his arsenal to prise out wickets, and it was on display during South Zone’s Duleep Trophy final against West Zone at the M Chinnaswamy stadium as Vidwath finished with 7 for 53.

Arvind, Karnataka’s former bowling coach, ended his first-class career with 186 wickets from 56 games, and Vidwath already has 48 scalps in his 12th game.

Read | South build on Vidwath's exploits

“I learnt a lot of lessons from Sreenath Arvind since I tried to base my bowling on him,” said the Kodava paceman. “According to him, both of us don't have that express pace that people talk about. So, we'll have to use our skills, we'll have to use our variations to get wickets. He also helped me fine-tune my action a little bit.”

Vidwath isn’t wrong about his pace for it hovers in the late 120s, but he still has batsmen hopping and playing wrong lines despite this shortcoming.

“I seek other ways to get any kind of purchase from the wicket,” he offered. "That's something I've watched great bowlers like Dale Steyn or Mohammed Shami do. I have seen a lot of Shami of late. So I see how good his seam presentation is and what the ball does, even in white-ball cricket. So, I figured, why not do it in red-ball cricket with a prominent seam.”

While seam presentation and variations are concerns worth having, Vidwath walked into a Karnataka side that was without R Vinay Kumar, Arvind and even Abhimanyu Mithun. That, Vidwath says, was exactly the kind of challenge he wanted to take on as a youngster.

“I've always been the kind of guy who likes responsibilities, who likes to take up the heavy load and deliver in big moments for the team,” said the 24-year-old Manchester City fan. “I knew my time would come eventually because every team goes through a transition. It happens all the time in football and I watch a lot of football so I knew I had to be patient.”

Arvind, for his part, couldn't help but laud the youngster for his quick evolution. 

"He came to us and he was very raw but very intelligent. He has the height and he has a very upright position on release and also great wrists, very supple," said the former India seamer. "That helps him bowl hard-hitting lengths in that 6-8 metre range. Also, he's always coming at the batter, they don't get to leave him for long."

In reference to the fine-tuning which Vidwath mentioned, Arvind, who will be joining Baroda team as its bowling coach, said: "It was a slight adjustment in action because his old action was affecting his lower back. Basically, he was leaning towards the off stump when he should be finishing towards the batsman. Very simple." 

Above all, confidence, Arvind says is the key to Vidwath's success. "He walked into the Karnataka dressing room and was relaxed. He looked like he belonged there. Same with South Zone by the looks of it (laughs)."

Sure does seem like it.