Captain's corner - Take 10 : Nishit Banuri

For the next few posts, I shall hand over the blog to Sohail and let him talk about each WVUCC player (along with player ratings for the 2007 season). Here is Sohail, in his own words...


Nishit Banuri
Right Arm Medium Fast

(Even though it looks blank, do click on the video below, it will play)


Introduction:
Nishit is another one of those quiet, shy, hardworking, and immensely skilful players that WVUCC can proudly lay its claim over. I don't know whether it is the air of Morgantown or belonging to a club with a history of players with calm demeanors, but something definitely makes WVUCC players relaxed, composed, and elegantly lazy in the most demanding of times. Sumanth, Abhijeet, Venkat, and now Nishit, all do their jobs as if they didn't care; yet in all their inexplicable ways there lies a deeper, hardworking, thinking cricketer. I wonder if even they realize their inner-selves. If I were to pick a bowler from this current team to bowl for my life, it would be none other than Nishit Banuri. I would categorize him in the Glenn McGrath, Mohammad Asif category of players who bowl tight lines and tempting lengths with the slightest of seam movement and present magical performances repeatedly, match after match.

Progress:
At first glance Nishit seemed to me to be a very likeable cricketer. His body movements suggested that he is a very stable fielder and could cover a lot of ground with very little effort. This being his first season for WVUCC meant that it would take him some time to establish himself in the playing eleven competing with the likes of Amol Bhavsar and Venkat Sathi who had already proven their worth. Missing the early part of the season was not very helpful either. At one point during the season I had lost all hope of seeing Nishit return and be a part of the team.

Things however are not always as they seem. Nishit returned and what a return it was! Coming back close to the end of the season, Nishit became one of the most reliable bowling options in the middle overs when the slog was on. During the earlier part of the season WVUCC had lost the grip over most games in this very critical middle period where bowlers would go for plenty and lose line and direction. Nishit provided the team with much needed control over the run flow in that middle period and, not only this, but he picked up Naveen Peiris and Ram Paluri during the semifinal and final, respectively, which just proves how well he bowled in those last games.

His best bowling for me was definitely in the semis and finals of the tournament. Just look at these figures for someone bowling with an old ball in high pressure games, against the top batsmen of the league and that too in his first season:

Semifinals against Hurricanes: 6-0-27-1
Finals against Steelzags: 6-0-33-2

Outstanding!

Nishit ended the season with a total of 9 quality wickets. His other great contribution was his athletic fielding performance standing at square leg and saving boundaries at will. In my rough estimate, Nishit must have saved at least 40-50 runs standing at that position in the season for WVUCC. (Editor’s note: Nishit was also responsible for two critical runouts from the square-leg position in the finals against the SteelZags).

Technical Analysis:
Nishit, like many other WVUCC bowlers, does not have a measured run-up to the stumps. Yet I see no problem with his approach to the wicket. He hardly jumps at the crease and uses his quick arm action to hurl the ball towards the batsman. He is very slippery and it is hard to pick him up right away. His head position is good and he has a very high arm action. One thing where Nishit lets himself down technically is that he is very low to the ground when delivering the ball at the crease and does not use his entire height to extract more bounce. His front leg is not straight at the point of delivery and bends excessively, thus reducing the height from which he bowls. His seam position is very good and his command over line and length is excellent. He has the ability to bowl on a particular line and length all day long, thus making him an excellent bowler for the captain to set fields for, and work on getting a batsman out by bowling to his weakness.

Mental Analysis:
Nishit is too clever to show his emotions while bowling. He does not change his plans much after being hit and counts on the fact that if he bowls within the stumps, the batsman can't afford to miss the ball. He builds pressure by bowling the kinds of lines which only he can bowl and surprises the batsman with the slightest of seam movement which is just enough to trouble the batsmen. It was his pressure bowling which got rid of big guns like Naveen and Ram during the playoffs. I also think that Nishit is good at ignoring what the batsman wants to do and focuses instead on what he himself wants to do. This makes bowling simple and much effective. I think he is and will be an asset for any team he plays for.

What Else?
There are some people who earn respect through what they say and then there are others who earn respect though what they don't say. Nishit is among the latter group. Being a new member of the team, Nishit usually stays within himself and attracts attention through his performances. He is a low profile player with high effectiveness. He is easy to talk to and his wisdom is apparent in his limited speech.

Marks out of Ten: (8.5/10)