IPL auction 2019: Battle hardened Varun Aaron looks to ride raw pace to make IPL comeback

Varun Aaron says he has now added the knuckle ball and cutters in his arsenal to ensure that he is the match-winner that a captain can boast of having in the team.

Bowling fast can be a thankless job on India wickets, especially when you toil all day only to see the spinners in the team reap the rewards of your hardwork, but Varun Aaron doesn’t mind. Give him another life and the Jharkhand pacer says he will still want to run in fast and tickle a few bones with the new ball. But with the invent of T20 cricket and the need for the bowlers to adapt, Aaron has now learnt the art of bringing in the knuckle ball and the cutters to ensure that he is the ultimate match-winner any captain can boast of.

File image of Varun Aaron.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, on the eve of the IPL auction, Aaron said that he enjoys hitting the 150kph mark just as much as he likes to bamboozle batsmen with his slower delivery. The latter has been added in the arsenal over the last two seasons. As much as he missed being a part of the 2018 edition of the IPL, he went on to ply his trade for Leicestershire. A move he feels made him understand his game better.

“To be honest with you, not finding an IPL team was more about surprise than disappointment. But we all must move ahead and I decided to go and play county cricket. I will say I was surprised because I had a good season with Kings XI Punjab in 2017. Just before the auction I had a game against Punjab — live on television — and the ball was coming out really well, including the knuckle ball and I was a bit surprised with the turn of events. At the same time, I had the option of either sitting and brooding or playing county cricket. So, the move wasn’t hard mentally.

“Contrary to popular belief, the English wickets are quite flat. With the toss rule coming in and opposition teams coming and deciding to field if they feel there is help on the wicket, by default most counties are preparing flat decks. Whatever it is, is in the air. For you to be able to move the ball in the air, automatically your action has to come out well. The added advantage is that being the pro in the team, you are expected to deliver. You also get a lot of time alone and that helped me as I had time to introspect on how I wish to go ahead with my bowling,” he said.

But the biggest takeaway for Aaron during his county stint was playing the shorter format. For the pacer, it meant bowling in conditions which were completely different from each other and the lack of time between games made him understand the need to adapt quickly against some quality batsmen.

“We had to play 5 games in 9 days. So it was all about play and travel. Also, each game was in a different place altogether. So, if you bowled brilliantly in one game, you might be caught unawares in the next one. You had to just start afresh and momentum didn’t hold much ground. When you play the Vijay Hazare for example, you camp in one place. So, if a certain length is working for you, you keep bowling that length right through. But that isn’t the idea when you are playing in England. That is where you learn to adapt quickly,” he explained.

Aaron has won Jharkhand quite a few matches this season. He picked 18 wickets in 8 games in the Vijay Hazare Trophy before picking two wickets in one Deodhar Trophy game. He has followed that up with 18 wickets in four Ranji Trophy matches. He is definitely in the form of his life and could be a big weapon for any of the IPL teams looking at a match-winning Indian pacer.

Despite the quality performances, what bothers Aaron is the fact that from being one of the front line bowlers in the Indian set-up, he hasn’t found a place in the India ‘A’ team, Duleep teams or the Irani squad in the past year and a half. That for Aaron is the tough part.

“Not breaking into one of these teams in recent times has been tough because generally, when you see a bowler who has been part of the Indian team, he is an automatic choice in all these competitions. I was again very surprised that I haven’t been picked for any of these teams,” he revealed.

What the absence from the IPL last season has done is made Aaron a multi-dimensional bowler who is more confident of winning his team games with the ball in hand.

“Playing county cricket, working with Subrata Banerjee has made me evolve as a bowler. I had been working on my varieties over the last two seasons and playing in different conditions in county cricket made me want to resort to the varieties more and that has helped me. I am bowling a lot more variations now, have three slower balls, have a leg-cutter and off-cutter coming out well. Not to forget I still love to come in and hit the deck hard.

“I have been working on these and you could have seen these in the last IPL if I had played. But I definitely am looking forward to unleash these in the upcoming edition of the IPL. Not really looking at which team I will play for, it is more about winning them matches,” he signed off.