Young Indian quicks raring to go

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">MUMBAI, Sept. 22:</span> The selection of a clutch of young quick bowling prospects for the two teams that will take on the New Zealanders at the start of their tour suggests that India won''t be in a hurry to see the shine off the new ball as used to be the case in the 70s.<br /><br />Kerala''s Sree Santh, Gujarat''s Siddharth Trivedi and Munaf Patel, UP''s Rudra Pratap Singh and Punjab''s Amit Uniyal are among the two teams along with Tinu Yohanan and Laxmi Ratan Shukla, who were tried and rejected.Of the lot Uniyal and Singh are left-armers.<br /><br />The future of India''s World Cup quartet of Srinath, Zaheer, Nehra and Agarkar functioning together again is bleak considering Srinath and Nehra are taking time to get match fit after surgeries. But thanks to the India A tours, there is a second line in wait -- L. Balaji, Amit Bhandari, who did well in England and Irfan Pathan and Avishkar Salvi who were picked for the senior side.<br /><br />Challenging them are the five new lads. India opener Sanjay Bangar who played them at the camp says Singh has been more impressive as he has more variations.<br /><br />Sree Santh, played his first season for Kerala last year and claimed 33 wickets. Abey Kuruvilla, former India bowler who was the Kerala Ranji coach says: "He is a good prospect. He is sharp. He has a deceptive outswinger. A good bouncer and yorker. Plus a good attitude."<br /><br />Seconding this opinion is another India bowler, T A Sekhar of the MRF Pace Foundation. "Sree Santh has a good slower ball. We sent him to Australia and he was adjudged the best bowler from the inter-academy tournament there. He did well in the bio-mechanics test too."<br /><br />What would his average pace be? Abey, who still plays league cricket and claimed 99 for his club in Liverpool league, said, "Around 135 kph."<br /><br />Munaf Patel, it was said in some quarters, consistently bowled nearing 150 kph. He too is at the MRF Academy, but Sekhar says "We have never clocked him. But I would put him between 140-145."<br /><br />Sekhar says about Munaf: "He has raw pace. He is six-foot four, he has a lethal bouncer. Steve Waugh batted against him and was jumping. The Indian team players also were impressed."<br /><br />Munaf has been playing for Chemplast in the local Chennai league. The Surat lad began playing two years ago and is yet to play for Gujarat. <br /><br />He could be snapped up by Mumbai, who are looking for replacements for Mhambrey who has quit and Agarkar and Salvi who are bound to tour for either of the India teams this winter. He could face some of the problems of Abey Kuruvilla in his first season - good in first spell, problems as fielder and second spell.<br /><br />The third prospect is Rudra Pratap Singh, a left-armer, namesake of the former bowler from UP who played for India in ODIs in the 80s. <br /><br />The 18-year-old student at the Guru Gobind Singh Sports College, is yet to play a first-class match. He impressed Lillee at the MRF foundation and was invited to the second India camp in Bangalore before the Challenger Trophy. <br /><br />There, too, he caught the eye of Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, though he did not get the media attention, which was focused on Munaf Patel.<br /><br />His coach, Deepak Sharma, thinks he has got the break at the right time. The India A team being led by UP man Mohd Kaif will work in Singh''s favour.<br /><br />All three - Munaf Patel, Sree Santh and Singh are in the India A side that plays the tourists at Rajkot.<br /><br />Amit Uniyal, 22, and Siddharth Trivedi, 21, have first class experience. Uniyal has claimed 57 wickets in two seasons while Trivedi had 25 in his first last year.<br /></div> </div>