Former Indian bowling coach Bharat Arun is one of the most prominent names in the Indian coaching circuit. The veteran moulded the Indian pace attack during his stint as the Indian team coach making them a force to reckon with in overseas conditions.
Bharat Arun was a medium pacer and an attacking lower-order batsman for Tamil Nadu who didn’t have impressive stats as a player but has done exceedingly well as a coach in the domestic circuit, which helped to get the opportunity to guide the Indian pace attack during 2017-21.
Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, and Shardul Thakur were part of the fast bowling unit that was developed during his reign as Indian bowling coach, as many players credited him for their success in International Cricket.
Here are five reasons why the Indian team Should look to bring back the Tamil Nadu pacer to the Indian setup ahead of the ODI World Cup 2023.
1. Rich Coaching Experience In India
Bharat Arun has good years of experience in coaching as he started with Tamil Nadu in 2002, where he continued to work for four years and led the team into the finals of the Ranji Trophy in 2003 and 2004 respectively, where the team failed to cross the hurdle.
With his credentials in domestic cricket, Arun became the chief bowling coach at the National Cricket Academy in 2008 and he also became the coach of the India Under-19 team and helped them at the U-19 World Cup in 2012, following which he was handpicked by Ravi Shastri to be part of his support staff in 2017, which proved a fruitful move for the Indian pacers, they equipped their skills under the Tamil Nadu pacer.
2. Good Relationship With Current Indian Pacers
Bharat Arun has been a vital cog in the Indian think tank and someone who has made a massive difference in the current crop of Indian fast bowlers. The former India bowler is largely credited with developing the current Indian pace attack, which is arguably the best in the business.
Many of the current Indian pacers have a good relationship with Bharat Arun, as the many Indian speedsters credited him for their development in fast bowling as he instilled confidence in picking up 20 wickets in every match they play in both home and away conditions. Umesh Yadav, who had a stellar season with Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2022 season, too revealed that their bowling coach Arun helped him during the 2022 season.
3. Can Help The Team Management In Decision Making
Bharat Arun is known as one of the Shrewd Cricket brains in Indian Cricket, as he showed a tremendous ability to read the game situations, as many believe that he was important to the India think-tank during his Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli tenure in Indian Cricket.
Many say that he is the master strategist and plays a key role in formulating tactics and plans during a match. Arun’s inputs were so much that even the Indian cricket team’s strategies on the field are mostly taken by the former Indian pacer, as Ravi Shastri had enormous respect for his cricketing brain, and the team also had reasonable success during Arun and Shastri’s previous stint with India between 2014-16.
4. Developing a Bigger Pool Of Pacers From IPL And Domestic Cricket
Bharat Arun can help the Indian team to develop the next set of the fast bowling unit, as youngsters like Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar, Mohsin Khan, Tushar Deshpande, Chetan Sakariya, and Shivam Mavi have shown promise of performing at the highest level, they would require the guidance of Tamil Nadu pacer calibre to guide them to do well in International cricket.
The 60-year-old can mould the youngsters for the bigger events, as the current crop of Indian pacers Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, and Deepak Chahar are prone to injury, it would be the right time for the Indian team to develop the pace attack for the forthcoming years and interestingly the Bharat Arun works with Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL, as he would observe the emerging talents in the country.
5. Bringing In The Next Set Of Spinner In Red-ball Cricket
Bharat Arun can play a crucial role in bringing the next group of spinners to the longer format of the game, with Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja being on the wrong side of the 30s as it would be important for the Indian team management to bring in the new-spinner in the team.
The Tamil Nadu pacer can handy pick the talents from the domestic circuit and develop them, as he played some crucial roles with Indian spinners during his stint, as they played a pivotal role in India winning home series under the leadership of Virat Kohli.