'Lillee behind rise of pacers'

Cricketnext.com: Dennis Lillee must have contributed a lot towards the academy.

TA Sekhar: Dennis carved a niche as the best in the business. He has not only helped India produce fast bowlers but every Board in the cricketing world is looking forward to Lillee’s expertise. We have a Memorandum of Understanding ( MOU) with the Australian Cricket Board, Sri Lanka and some of the counties in England. Now the West Indies Board is keen to sign an MOU.

Cricketnext.com: The academy has been helping foreign bowlers including who have been playing for their respective countries. Have they credited MRF after their success?

TA Sekhar: Pakistan bowler Mohammad Asif was in India and has gone on record saying that he learnt a lot at our academy and with Dennis Lillee after just a 12-day stint. Jermaine Lawson too came here for corrective measures on his bowling action and was able to get back to business after spending just a week here.

Cricketnext.com: The Sri Lankan Board was the first to enroll here. Do you have an MOU with them too?

TA Sekhar: Yes. I am also a bowling consultant for Sri Lanka. Chaminda Vaas sent me a mail a couple of days ago. He wanted to know whether I have seen any change in his bowling. He sought my advise as he was not able to get his in-swingers to right handed batsmen. It also had happened to him once during their tour to India. Tom Moody wanted me to analyse Vaas’s bowling.

We took videos of his run-up, action and delivery. The next day, I gave corrective methods to Vaas and showed the video analysis to Moody. Vaas adhered to instructions given to him and took five wickets. Likewise, Dilhara Fernando was bowling a lot of no-balls and sought corrective methods. These changes in the bowlers might look simple but the measures taken to correct them helps the bowlers tremendously.

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