As chief coach of the MRF Pace foundation you have developed some very healthy operation models over the years, including things like exchange programs. How much of this is based on the Australian model?
Actually it is all based on the Australian model of coaching. When I first went to Australia in 1995 to do the Level 3 course I sat with coaches of the other countries and realised that India were 25-30 years behind the rest when it came to coaching.
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When you started off there must have been a lot of people who were sceptical about the MRF Pace foundation and its methods?
Even today there is a lot of resistance up North. People in North India say "we have produced Kapil Devs and Chetan Sharmas." Let me tell you one thing. Fast bowlers are not produced. They are born.
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You have bowled fast at the highest level, played a lot of domestic cricket and now have had a chance to look at a lot of young fast bowlers from around the world at the Pace Foundation. Why is it that India is unable to produce quality fast bowlers even though its neighbours, Pakistan and Sri Lanka seem to be able to churn them out?
Pakistan has got a lot of natural talent. If you look at Pakistan, historically they have had a lot of fast bowlers who were role models. Imran Khan at his prime encouraged young fast bowlers. He was not insecure or worried about his place in the side.
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If there is a young bowler who wants to bowl genuinely fast and has some ability but is struggling to maintain line and length, like you were when you began, what would you say to him?
If somebody has the ability to bowl quick, I would not worry about his line and length straight away. No batsman in the world likes to play a ball coming up to his face or even above the waist level. Take the case of Shoaib Akhtar.
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