Cricket's human machines: Meet Delhi Capitals’ unsung heroes
Throwdown specialists play a crucial role in preparing batters for high-speed deliveries and getting in the volume for skill-based sessions directed at fine tuning a particular shot. The Delhi Capitals employ Aniket Berde, Darshan, and Sai Pendam, each with unique backgrounds and skills. Their journeys reveal resilience, adaptation, and the evolving significance of throwdown experts in modern cricket.
New Delhi: With cricket evolving at a rapid pace and batters clearing the ropes with monstrous ease, the role of throwdown specialists continues to get a lot of importance in any T20 set-up at the moment. It not only prepares batters for high-speed music but also allows them to fine-tune a particular shot by getting the repetitions which wouldn't have been possible with a regular bowler. It's a common sight these days to see support staff members with a big baseball glove and the robo-arm at every practice session.
During international assignments, there's a dedicated throwdown net for batters to do the skill and repetition work; in an IPL set-up, it's more about getting in the volume. Since it's humanly impossible for bowlers to replicate match-day intensity in the nets, throwdown specialists have become the heartbeat of every team's preparation. IPL franchise Delhi Capitals have three specialists at their disposal who have unique skill sets and different storylines, but the same desire: to set the speed guns on fire.
Aniket Berde 35-year-old Aniket Berde comes from Kalyan in Mumbai, where he used to play club cricket before joining Praveen Amre's academy in 2013. At the academy, he's bowled to the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Robin Uthappa, Shreyas Iyer, Shams Mulani, and Aakarshit Gomel. What makes Berde unique is that he's ambidextrous.
He writes and fields with his left hand but bats and bowls with his right hand. "In the beginning, I was a right-arm bowler. So, I used to bowl with my right hand.
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