Virat Kohli lavishes praise on India's throwdown specialist Raghavendra
Indian skipper Virat Kohli praised throwdown specialist D. Raghavendra for constantly grilling the Indian batsmen. In an Instagram Live session, Kohli revealed how Raghavendra's ability to notch over 150 KPH with the sidearm has led to improvement of Indian batsmen. He also asserted the latter constantly helps batsmen during several practice sessions. Here is what Kohli said.
Batsmen have shown improvement against seamers: Kohli
"I believe the improvement this team has shown while playing fast bowling since 2013 has been because of Raghu. After playing Raghu in nets, when you go into the match, you feel there is a lot of time," said Kohli.
Raghavendra has been associated with Team India since 2013
Raghavendra has been a crucial member of Team India's support staff since 2013. A number of eminent Indian batsmen have time and again highlighted his role of giving throwdowns. "He has good concepts about footwork, bat movement of players. He has improved his skills so much that from sidearm he easily hurls the balls at 155 KPH," Kohli added.
What is the role of a throwdown specialist?
The job of throwdown specialists involves hurling balls to batsmen at express pace, using an equipment called sidearm. A sidearm replicates all the trajectories of fast bowlers, thereby offering an effective batting practice.
A good session maintains the flow, feels Kohli
Kohli reiterated that such rigorous batting sessions have helped him master the run-chases in past. "To be honest, I never doubted myself in game situations. Everyone who is human has doubts and weaknesses. Have their negatives. So in practice during tours, if you haven't had a good session you feel you don't have that flow," the Indian captain concluded.