McGrath to mentor Varun Aaron and other pacers

Varun Aaron, India's fastest bowler, has started a 10-day training programme under Australian bowling legend Glenn McGrath at the MRF Pace Foundation.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India, in a strategic tie-up with MRF, announced a 10-day camp for some talented pacers. The spotlight at the camp, though, will be on speed merchant Aaron, who will be working under McGrath to iron out chinks in his armoury as well as learn some tricks about bowling on pitches Down Under.

Along with Aaron, two notable players training at the foundation are Ishwar Pandey, who was part of the Indian touring party in New Zealand and England, and India discard Ashoke Dinda.

McGrath, who has taken over from Dennis Lillee as chief coach of India's premier pace bowling factory, had earlier worked with Aaron and Pandey.

He considers Pandey as one of the most talented swing bowlers in the country at the moment.

"Dinda, for his part, has developed a lot of technical flaws in his bowling apart from being one-dimensional in his approach. He has been advised to have a stint under McGrath, who can work on his flaws before the Ranji Trophy comes calling in December," a source in know of the developments said.

"With Mohammed Shami unlikely to be available due to national duty, an in-form Dinda is a must for Bengal," he added.

Among the pacers attending the camp is also Mumbai fast medium bowler Shardul Thakur, who impressed during the last Ranji Trophy season, and Rajasthan's Deepak Chahar. The latter after a dream Ranji debut spell of 8 for 10 against Hyderabad, faded into oblivion due to poor form and injuries.

Jharkhand fast bowler Rahul Shukla, Railways' Anureet Singh, both of whom were a part of the India 'A' team in Australia recently, India Under-19 medium pacer Chama Milind, who represented the country in the last World Cup; Bengal's reserve seamer Veer Pratap Singh, lanky Uttar Pradesh bowler Ankit Rajput, who played for Chennai Super Kings in the last edition of the Indian Premier League, are also at the camp.