Right-arm pacer Varun Aaron is hoping to find a bid during the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) auction in Jaipur on December 18 as he feels raw pace is something that could see him find favour ahead of the rest.
The 29-year-old made his debut for India in 2011 and last turned up for the country in 2015 but despite that, he is not only confident of a comeback at the highest level, wants to also prove a point in the IPL after a snub in 2018.
“To be honest with you, not finding an IPL team was more about surprise than a disappointment. But we all must move ahead and I decided to go and play county cricket," Aaron told Hindustan Times, "I will say I was surprised because I had a good season with Kings XI Punjab in 2017. Just before the auction, I had a game against Punjab — live on television — and the ball was coming out really well, including the knuckle-ball and I was a bit surprised with the turn of events."
"At the same time, I had the option of either sitting and brooding or playing county cricket. So, the move wasn’t hard mentally."
Aaron exemplified his desire and ambition by signing up with Leicestershire, as a professional for this year's domestic season in England and says, it has really helped him evolve as a bowler.
"Contrary to popular belief, the English wickets are quite flat. With the toss rule coming in and opposition teams coming and deciding to field if they feel there is help on the wicket," he said, "By default, most counties are preparing flat decks. Whatever it is, is in the air. For you to be able to move the ball in the air, automatically your action has to come out well."
"The added advantage is that being the pro in the team, you are expected to deliver. You also get a lot of time alone and that helped me as I had time to introspect on how I wish to go ahead with my bowling."
Aaron, who continues to have the "madness" to run in and bowl fast, is hoping that he'll once again break his way through at the highest level, as he further reiterated, "We had to play 5 games in 9 days. So it was all about play and travel. Also, each game was in a different place altogether."
"So, if you bowled brilliantly in one game, you might be caught unawares in the next one. You had to just start afresh and momentum didn’t hold much ground. When you play the Vijay Hazare for example, you camp in one place."
"So, if a certain length is working for you, you keep bowling that length right through. But that isn’t the idea when you are playing in England. That is where you learn to adapt quickly," he explained.
The Jharkhand express also informed how he has been working hard over his variations - mainly in pace and with the cutters, for the much anticipated IPL auctions and expressed, "Playing county cricket, working with Subrata Banerjee has made me evolve as a bowler. I had been working on my varieties over the last two seasons and playing in different conditions in county cricket made me want to resort to the varieties more and that has helped me."
"I am bowling a lot more variations now, have three slower balls, have a leg-cutter and off-cutter coming out well. Not to forget I still love to come in and hit the deck hard."
"I have been working on these and you could have seen these in the last IPL if I had played. But I definitely am looking forward to unleash these in the upcoming edition of the IPL. Not really looking at which team I will play for, it is more about winning them matches," Aaron concluded.
