Bharat Arun speaks about Fitness and Coaching

Some of the great names in the history of sport either failed as a coach or never came into coaching. On the other side of the coin are some world class coaches who were obscure as a player but revered for their coaching prowess.

Arrigo Sachhi, the renowned Italian soccer coach along with Jose Mourinho are two colossal figures who hardly played the game. Both John Buchanan and Dav Whatmore engineered amazing success stories for Australia and Sri Lanka respectively despite having a modest playing record. Examples galore, and it conclusively proves that one may not be a champion as a player but of course, can become a champion coach.

That brings us to the remarkable success story of Bharat Arun, India's much talked about bowling coach. With a burly physique like Merv Hughes of Australia, Arun's international stat has not much to write home about - just 2 tests and 3 ODIs.

His career was plagued by injury in the knee and it came to an abrupt end. Arun was determined about achieving things that he missed out in his playing days. His coaching foray started with the Tamil Nadu state team in Ranji trophy, India's premier first class championship back in 2004. However, his coaching career gathered momentum when he joined National Cricket Academy of India back in 2007 as the head of fast bowling.

Arun would then travel across the length and breadth of the country and unearth raw talents. It was in the National Cricket Academy where the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Umesh Yadav and Md. Siraj sharpened their skills under the tutelage of Arun. India did have a pool of talent. But Arun, with his coaching vision ensured that the talents were nurtured and then blossom into fearsome international bowlers.

The U-19 India team lifted the world cup in Australia in 2010 under Bharat Arun. His consistent success was rewarded with in 2014 when he became the bowling coach with the senior India cricket team. From then the man has never looked back.

The greatest aspect of Arun’s coaching is his philosophy. He has vast command over the technical part of bowling. However, what stands apart is his analysis from the video footage. Arun is a firm believer of not changing the originality of a bowler. He of course, does the correction, in most cases though it is bare minimum than over correction that may jeopardise the bowler’s potency. Arun’s style of coaching aims at getting as close to the basics. He would bounce option to a bowler. He is against the theory of either my way or the highway. His school of thought works on empowering a bowler, thereby making them to introspect on their own game. A highly spiritual and detached person, Arun prefers to sit back and allow the boys to hog the limelight.

Ever since Arun joined hands with his former team mate Ravi Shastri as India’s coaching staff, India has become a revered outfit across the globe both at home and abroad. We hope that Arun’s honeymoon with the Indian cricket team continues.

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