Why being a bowler is not easy in India? World No.1 Test bowler Ravichandran explains in this throwback video...
🎥: Breakfast with Champions
🎥: Breakfast with Champions
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00:00I don't believe I'm an extremely talented or a extremely very very good cricketer or somebody who's extremely skillful.
00:06Nobody wants to be a bowler because it's actually labour class, whereas batting is like first class or business class.
00:30Would aggressive be a good adjective for you? Aggressive on field?
00:48Yeah, as a cricketer, if I walked on the road, I want to win every day. Just going there and yeah, I should win today. My team should win today.
00:54It's about competing right from that age.
00:56Competitive is a better word than aggressive.
00:58There's nothing wrong in being aggressive. Virat is aggressive. MSD is aggressive. He is. He is very aggressive.
01:04Of course, he is.
01:06And it's just about showing it in a different way. It's emoting. It's emoting what you are.
01:08I don't believe I'm an extremely talented or a extremely very very good cricketer or somebody who's extremely skillful.
01:16Like for example, you take Virat or Rohit. They are like born natural talents with the game.
01:22I don't belong to that segment, actually. I belong to the other segment where my cricket is relied on method.
01:28So, there are two ways to it. But I think Virat applies a lot of method to his talent as well.
01:34MS is the one that actually first taught me about it saying, look at the top of the mark at the run up, you should have five, six options in your hand, such that you're not searching for answers.
01:44And that's a very deep, deep line that he gave me.
01:48So, do you do that?
01:50Sometimes, yes.
01:52Is it like deer diary?
01:54It's not deer diary. I mean, I have a log written away somewhere in my house about why I do certain things and what are the cues for it.
02:00It's basically like what you do in school. It's aim, method, process and result.
02:04People are always very supportive of me playing white ball cricket for India. But when my selection came for red ball, a lot of people had their own reservations and opinions about whether this was the right thing to do.
02:16There is a white ball cricketer who's been thrown into the mix. But a lot of people had forgotten the fact that I had actually picked up 141st class wickets in 30-odd games.
02:24I remember Anil Kumble actually telling me this, that half of Sachin's career went in trying to make people right, prove people right. And most of my career went in trying to prove people wrong.
02:34So, it was very similar. And once I embarked on this journey and started becoming the bowler that I was, I realized that I actually had to prove it to people that it's good to be a bowler.
02:45Because I constantly feel that nobody wants to be a bowler because it's actually labour class. Whereas batting is like first class or business class.
02:53Blue collar, white collar.
02:55Exactly. And you want to inspire people picking up the ball. You didn't have a Javagal Srinath who was one of the greatest ever becoming a superstar in India.
03:03You didn't have an Anil Kumble until he actually picked up 10 wickets and went on to get 600 wickets to get an Anil Kumble circle in Bangalore.
03:09So, unless and until you actually treat people the way they need to be treated, you're not going to inspire a generation to take up that art.
03:16And the first thing actually Virat said when he started taking over the leadership of our test team was that he said, bowlers are going to be the one that are going to run the team.
03:26Because I think bowlers are the ones that can win games. And it's you guys that will make sure whether we are stars or superstars.