Australian pace legend Glenn McGrath congratulated Chetan Sakariya and Sandeep Warrier and said that he is ‘proud’ of India pacers who recently made their India debut. Both the young pacers are a product of MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai of which Glenn McGrath is the director.
Left-arm seamer Chetan Sakariya made his international debut in the third ODI against Sri Lanka and went on to make his T20I debut in the second T20I against the same opponents. Sandeep Warrier played his first International match in the third T20I of the series.
"A huge congratulations to both @sakariya.chetan & Sandeep Warrier for making their debut for India @_official_bcci_ So proud of you both," Glenn McGrath tweeted.
Chetan Sakariya has previously credited the Australian legend for the massive role he has played in Sakariya’s development as a pacer while coming through the ranks for Saurashtra.
"My body would drop during release. The MRF camp with Glenn sir helped me improve on the action, fitness as well as line-and-length. He analyzed my action in the video footage and suggested the corrections. My previous action was slightly injury-prone. He told me if I improve in these departments, I will have more pace and I can remain injury-free for a long time," Sakariya had told Sportstar in an interview.
On his ODI debut, Sakariya picked 2/34 and returned with figures of 1/34 on his T20I debut. Sandeep Warrier, however, went wicketless in his first international match where India was defending only 82 runs.
In another interview, Sakariya said that he impressed McGrath with natural swing and nippy movement. The Australian told him to work on his fitness and add more pace to become a 130kmph bowler which he currently is.
"I gave trials and impressed Glenn [McGrath] sir with my nippy pace and natural swing. He told me if I worked on my action and fitness, I could add another 5kph to my pace and be a 130kph bowler. He said if I could do that, I could at least play at the Ranji Trophy level.” Sakariya had told ESPNcricinfo.
(Hindustan Times)
