Delhi's Awril tops zonal trials

NEW DELHI: Clocking 140 km/ hr on the speed gun, Delhi's Awril Kumar emerged the fastest in North Zone trials for the NBT Superpacer hunt, a BCCL initiative to find the fastest bowler in India.
Awril surpassed 49 others selected from trials in Delhi, Ghaziabad and Lucknow at the Jamia Milia Islamia ground on Thursday. He will now lead North Zone's challenge along with Mohammad Azharuddin, Somveer, Kanishk Bhati and Pankaj Sehan -all of whom bowled in excess of 132 km/hr -at the final trials in Pune on Friday.They will get a chance to show off their bowling ability in front of West Indian pace legend Courtney Walsh.
Somveer, who had topped the list in the city-level trials with 136 km/hr, dropped to 133 km/hr while Azharuddin stepped up from 129 to 133 km/hr on Thursday.
Awril happens to be a cousin of Railways medium-pacer Anureet Singh, who was the highest wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy last season and is presently travelling with IPL team Kings XI Punjab. In fact, Awril got valuable advice from Anureet going into the trials. "I had four days off before the zonal trial and I kept away from bowling either in the nets or in a match.
Anureet told me to just keep bowling with a clear mind.
Even my coach told me not to strain myself ahead of the trials. He just asked me to focus on my basics," said Awril.
Praising Awril, North Zone mentor and former India pacer Chetan Sharma said, "Boys like Awril need good guidance. He can extract more pace."
Chetan also exuded confidence that the five boys selected from the zone would figure in the final list of fastest bowlers.
"I am sure there will be a few in the top five at the national level. I'll have a word with these five boys on how to crank up their pace before the trials. These guys are definitely talented. Others who missed the mark by a whisker too have enough potential," he added.