Despite his achievements over the last six years, Karnataka seamer R Vinay Kumar remains unfamiliar to most Indian fans
Siddarth Ravindran in Mysore11-Jan-2010He has 179 Ranji Trophy wickets at 22.15 over six seasons, in each ofwhich he has scalped more than 20. He was the domestic bowler of the year in 2007-08after dismissing 47 batsmen in nine matches. Despite these achievements,Karnataka seamer R Vinay Kumar remains unfamiliar to most Indian fans, andhe didn’t even find a place on the BCCI’s 41-man list of contractedplayers last November.”It’s a real big surprise for me why he’s not made the next level,” hisstate coach Sanath Kumar says. “He bowls at about 130kmh, which is prettydecent, moves the ball both ways and is very accurate.”This season has been Vinay’s finest yet. With the added responsibility ofgrooming two young, talented quick bowlers in Abhimanyu Mithun and SAravind, he has been at the forefront of Karnataka’s charge to the final.His 43 wickets put him on top of the Ranji charts this season, including a personal-besteight-wicket burst against Delhi, and on the big occasion of the final, hecalmed the team nerves by slicing through the Mumbai top order.Vinay debuted for the Karnataka Ranji side as a 20-year-old in 2004-05,when the team was looking for the next generation of fast bowling talentafter the retirement of David Johnson and with another stalwart, DoddaGanesh, fading. He was an instant success, getting the wickets of SouravGanguly and Rohan Gavaskar on debut, and has played in nearly everyKarnataka match since.He is deeply disappointed at not making it to the national team so far. “Ifeel bad that no one is recognising me. Everyone knows that I’ve been doing wellfor the last six years,” Vinay says. He turned to Anil Kumble and RahulDravid for advice, and their guidance kept him focused. “They would saythat your day will come. Don’t get desperate. If you are, thenyour bowling will suffer and you may start doing new things that will spoilyour bowling.”He also sought the counsel of one of his first coaches, LM Prakash, fromhis hometown of Davanagere. “I keep telling him to concentrate on bowlingwell and not to bother about the results,” Prakash says, “to keepenjoying himself, keep performing for the team to win, and wait for his time to come.”
I’m making him realise that he has to get into the national team as an allrounderKarnataka coach Sanath Kumar
Now 25, Vinay is at an age by which most Indian cricketers havealready made the breakthrough – several competitors for a nationalpace-bowling spot like Sreesanth, RP Singh and Munaf Patel are roughly asold as him, while Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar and Sudeep Tyagi areyounger. Perhaps there is a different route to the top?”I’m making him realise that he has to get into the national team as anallrounder,” Sanath says. “Probably the place which hasbeen left vacant by Irfan Pathan. I’m telling him all the time he has gottremendous potential as a batsman.”Vinay started out for his first club, United Cricketers, as a batsman,idolising Dravid and wanting to copy his batting style. “He wasconcentrating more on his batting initially,” Prakash says, “There was abowling coach Prakash Powar, a fast bowler for Goa, who thought there wastalent in Vinay as a medium-pacer. He made him bowl at the nets and Vinaystarted playing as an allrounder. Gradually, as he progressed to thehigher levels, his bowling started getting more recognition, but even upto the zonal under-19s he was scoring plenty of runs.”Two seasons ago, during former India allrounder Vijay Bharadwaj’s tenureas Karnataka coach, Vinay was tried as a pinch-hitter for the Vijay HazareTrophy. The experiment was a partial success: he made a quickfire 32 and acouple of half-centuries in six innings. “All my coaches tell me I havea good technique in batting, and want me to concentrate on that,” Vinay says. “After getting so many wickets, I’m not getting enough recognition. I have to score. Now, slowly, I’m concentrating on my batting as well.”