A Brilliant Quest
The groundbreaking philosophies and training methods of the Rajasthan Royals creating a new generation of phenomenal players
Flick! Slash!! Boom!!! In the space of three balls from the great Jimmy Anderson, Indian wunderkid Yashasvi Jaiswal went from 159 to 177 in the third Test in Rajkot (see above.) The flick deposited a low leg stump full-toss over square leg for six, the next, wide full ball, was slashed over deep extra cover, and the third, the piece de resistance was a shortish delivery launched thunderously back over the startled bowler’s head and into the stand. Three sixes in three balls – all to different sections of the ground - on Jaiswal’s way to an undefeated double century, his second of the series, as India unceremoniously thumped England by the colossal margin of 434 runs.
These three shots, all requiring very different approaches and skillsets, were not actually a random exhibition of Jaiswal’s undisputed talent. They were the product of the training ground, a practice method and a philosophy all driven by the Rajasthan Royals transformative thinking about the game, pioneered by the Royal’s Director of High Performance Zubin Bharucha.
“What we're trying to build is a 360 player who can hit the ball in every direction and particularly hit it where there are no fielders,” Bharucha says. “So now all our practices are geared towards each output. They are sequenced. The thrower will feed the batter one on the legside and then the next throw will be on the offside and the next throw will be a bouncer, then the next straight and full. So the batter trains flick-cut-pull-drive.” That was largely the sequence that Jaiswal unleashed against Anderson. It was the product of hours of highly intense practice at the Royals academy and being one step ahead of the bowler.
The Rajasthan Royals do things a different way, they always have since they were founded by the English-based entrepreneur Manoj Badale in 2008 (interviewed here on the recent Analyst Inside Cricket podcast.) Their strategies are producing a new breed of multi-dimensional, all-format cricketer, of which the 22 year old Jaiswal, who is scoring first class hundreds at the Bradmanesque rate of one every three innings, is the most prominent example. Jaiswal, hailing from a poor background in Uttar Pradesh and hardly a figure of Schwarzenegger proportions, has also already hit more sixes in a Test series (22) than any previous Indian player. And there is still one Test to go.
Its largely down to the training methods. Bharucha, a former Mumbai batsman who made a hundred on his first class debut, moved into coaching and was an integral part of the Cricket Star talent search programme that I helped develop with Badale in 2006. He has been a key component of the Royals franchise ever since it was founded in 2008. He was the scout who spotted Jaiswal at a trial five years ago and has been working with him intensively ever since, as well as spending inordinate amounts of time with other emerging talents like Dhruv Jurel (who made a match-winning contribution in the last Test, only his second appearance for India, in Ranchi.)
Zubin Bharucha (centre) with Kumar Sangakkara (left) and Yashasvi Jaiswal
The way Bharucha has reshaped cricket training is fascinating and genuinely groundbreaking and a huge boon for the game generally. It is undoubtedly not achieveable without a vision from the top (Badale) and considerable investment and manpower. “I’ve based our coaching strategies on the three pillars from our three great ambassadors,” Bharucha continues. “So ‘Finding a way to win from anywhere’ – that was Shane Warne’s mantra [Warne was the Royal’s first captain.] Then we had Rahul Dravid’s ‘plans are nothing, planning is everything’. [Dravid took over from Warne as Royal’s captain/coach in 2012.] And now Kumar Sangakkara [the Royal’s current director of cricket] says - ‘No two situations are ever alike, keep adapting’.”
“So that is why we have developed our sequenced training. Enabling adaptability. It starts with four throwers who are about 15 feet away from the batter. They have specific roles - to supply the flick, the cut, the pull, the drive. We even call them that – ‘Flick’ ‘Cut ‘Pull’ ‘Drive’. [it’s a modern twist on Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch.] Behind them are feeders with their sidearms. So you've got four throwers, four sidearms, all throwing to different locations. And behind that, we have the four spinners and the four fast bowlers. So it's like one round is 16 variables, each being thrown or bowled at a sequence of offside onside offside onside. So what we're trying to do is in one 16 ball session, the guy is getting the entire range. And if he falters somewhere, like he can't play the flick or he can't play the cut, he just keeps repeatedly getting the same shot. So eventually he has to get it right.”
“We have heavy bats and light bats and thin bats like Bradman used all those years ago [a stump infact] and heavy balls and light balls and sometimes they won’t see a full-sized bat for five days. We try anything to increase your bat speed and range. Originally Jaiswal couldn’t hit the ball over long-on - because his elbow was bent. We worked for 18 months to develop that skill, with soft balls, hard balls, heavy balls etc. [The HawkEye wagonwheel below demonstrates the effectiveness of those drills.] Of course, these ball feeders can’t do it all day. We’re talking 30 plus people involved in producing one batsman. We can’t do it without the investment, the facilities, the people. And that's how we're building the base for this final product that you switch on the TV and watch.”
“We don't discuss T20 cricket. We don't discuss Test match cricket. We don't change anything in our practice sessions – except tweaking a few things if somebody wants to play spin. It's all about scoring runs in areas where there are no fielders and being able to hit the ball in this onside offside sequence.” Hence the glorious example of Jaiswal’s three sixes off Anderson.
Bharucha is based for much of the year at the Royal’s High Performance Centre outside Nagpur, where there are 40 different pitch surfaces available for varying scenarios. They rarely use nets, preferring to do all the practice sessions in the middle with a full set of fielders and an army of bowlers and feeders. It was here where Jurel, picked up from obscurity by the Royal’s two years ago and now India’s new wicketkeeper, spent two days before the fourth Test in Ranchi.
“We spent the previous week producing a spinning wicket that spun just enough but not too much. When Jurel came in to bat, we had 10 to 12 spinners bowling to him. We had a silly point, short leg, slip, leg slip, cover point, mid wicket, mid-on, the whole setup. And he just batted on that pitch for 140 overs in close to four hours. That's a monumental practice session. At the end of that day we sat together and I said, look, I don't think you can be any more prepared than this.” Jurel made an innings-rescuing 90 in the first innings in Ranchi, saw India home with a cool 39 not out in the second innings and was awarded the player of the match in only his second Test.
Apart from in India, the Royals have now established academies in Dubai, Barbados (aligned to their Barbados Royals franchise), South Africa, Surrey (which both Ollie Pope and Shoaib Bashir attended, and where Bashir met and was hugely influenced by Warne) and have just opened a new one in New Jersey, USA, each fostering the Royal’s philosophies. With the patience of a saint, Bharucha facilitates those and has seen how the work ethic is paying off amongst his charges.
“The competitiveness between this group now is what is really elevating their performance. So for instance Rihan Parag [another Royal’s discovery] is seeing Jurel practising and he’s saying ‘I want to do that – I need to step up too’ and his strike rate recently in first class matches has gone through the roof!”
“The American philosopher Emerson said ‘Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds’. We are focussed on being brilliant every single day and not think about being consistent. Be Brilliant. Not consistent.” Brendon McCullum would raise a glass to that.