da brdice： © CricInfo Tinu Yohannan is the complete athlete; faster, higher and stronger allput together
Santhosh S29-Nov-2001
© CricInfoTinu Yohannan is the complete athlete; faster, higher and stronger allput together. He is also the first player from the state of Kerala to beincluded in the Indian cricket squad. The 22-year-old tall fast bowlermight very well play his first Test on Monday at Mohali against England.Yohannan had earlier impressed the selectors with his bowling in theIrani Trophy match against Baroda, where he charged in and bowled atgood pace even at the fag end of the day, prompting one of the selectorsto say that India needs players with such commitment.Yohannan took to high-jump as a young boy and won gold at the stateschool level and also silver at the junior state level. The genes havebeen passed from his father TC Yohannan, gold-medal winner in long jumpin the 1974 Asian Games and the first Asian to cross the eight-metremark.Yohannan is from the small hamlet of Edapally near Kochi, the queen ofArabian Sea, in Kerala. He represented his school – Bhavan’s VidyaMandir Elamakkara – in the state CBSE championships and won gold in highjump. It was during the summer vacation after his tenth-gradeexaminations that Yohannan went over to the MRF Pace Academy to learnfast bowling. Yohannan had earlier talked to the head coach at MRF, TASekhar, over the phone. The selection trials were all over and yetSekhar called him in to the nets to have a bowl along with othertrainees, a decision that makes Sekhar that much more proud today.Talking over the phone with CricInfo, the usually shy lad couldn’t hidehis happiness. “I am really happy to be selected for the Indian team. Iam really thankful to the Kerala Cricket Association and the MRF PaceAcademy for helping me through to make it thus far. I will always beindebted to Dennis Lillee and TA Sekhar for their guidance and support.I am proud to be an Indian and I will give more than my best for theteam.”In his eight Ranji Trophy appearances for Kerala, Yohannan has pickedonly 24 first-class wickets. Clearly, the selectors have gone in fortalent and work ethic than the number of wickets. Yohannan played forthe Board President’s XI against England in Hyderabad and, soon afterthe match, he spoke about his career and ambitions in an exclusiveinterview to CricInfo. “If I know anything about fast bowling, it is allbecause of my guru Dennis Lillee. The four years that I spent withSekhar at the MRF academy have taught me a lot about fast bowling.”Here is a player who believes in plain hard work. He has two five-wickethauls in the Ranji Trophy so far and reckons that being selected for theIrani Trophy was a pivotal moment in his career. “I just wanted to give100 percent and wait for the results,” says Yohannan about his approachto the Irani Trophy match. When asked about his playing against aninternational side for the first time, which was incidentally againstEngland at Hyderabad last week, Yohannan said, “I was very happy to hearabout the selection, which I came to know about through the morningnewspaper. I was nursing some hope of making it into the team.”Yohannan bowled 11 overs in four different spells in the first inningsand struggled to find his rhythm. But the young man took it as anopportunity and a learning experience to be bowling at the foreignplayers. It was a determined Yohannan who charged in to bowl at theEnglish batsmen in their second essay. Madan Lal, who was the teammanager, had advised him to bowl stump-to-stump on a docile track. Theadvice from the former Indian opening bowler and the current nationalselector did the trick; Yohannan bowled with a lot of fire to surprise afew Englishmen.The young fast bowler was very much impressed by Nasser Hussain’sdriving on the rise and the back-foot play of Michael Vaughan. Thechampagne moment of the three-day match was when Yohannan shattered thestumps of Vaughan, who was shaping to play at a really quick deliverythat cut back in a shade. The off and middle stumps went flying in aspectacular manner. Perhaps that was the one ball that changed the lifeof this soft-spoken youngster.Yohannan was looking forward to playing in the four Ranji Trophy matchesfor Kerala. Talking about the goals that he has set for the season,Yohannan said, “I want Kerala to qualify for the knock-out stage. I haveto give my best, bowl aggressively and retain my fitness to achievethat.” His mates would not mind missing him from the Ranji team; it isindeed an honour for the small state of Kerala that one of their boyscould well be playing in a Test match on Monday.