Thread by @KShriniwasRao

Here’s a #Thread on Bharat Arun, as promised…
Let’s begin with a gentleman named Troy Cooley. A former cricketer /coach with Tasmania (Aus), he went on to play several roles in Aus domestic circuit before England Cricket Board picked him up ahead of the 2005 Ashes. (1/25)

He helped shape the 2005 English pace attack of Flintoff, Harmisson, Jones, Hoggard & Anderson. These pacers stormed the Aus bastion to win 2005 Ashes. ECB, however, did not retain Cooley. He went on to head the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane. (2/25)

Cooley and Arun have nothing to do with each other and yet this bit is important. Cricket Australia knew how to make use of talent -- called Cooley and worked on their pace bowling attack post 2006 once again. Results are there for everyone to see. BCCI must do that with Arun.

Cooley was just an example of how good coaches are valued. But this thread is about Arun. The man has coached for 28 years. He’s not just coached bowlers, he’s coached bowling coaches at the BCCI’s NCA – coaches who are professionals today in Indian domestic circuit. (4/25)

In 2017, when Ravi Shastri became head coach, first man he wanted in dressing room was Arun. I know of individuals in BCCI who tried to stop it from happening but that's past now. Ravi put his foot down – ‘Either Arun comes on board, or I don’t take this job,’ he said. (5/25)

Arun came on board. India toured Sri Lanka in August 2017. He was only warming up. While India won the series, Arun’s mind was elsewhere. He was already looking at 2018-19 – tour of SA, England and Aus. To win there, he would need good pace. Nothing else would work. (6/25)

Arun knew Ishant for the longest time as Jr India coach, & at NCA. But by 2017, he also knew Ishant would have to be a different bowler to remain as effective going forward, not Ishant of 2008 (to Ponting). More statesman-like. Rest of the attack would be built around him. (7/25)

Talk about a reunion, Arun and Mohd Shami once again crossed paths. The two had worked together at the India ‘A’ level and at the NCA in the past. Arun knew exactly what Shami was capable of. He calls him a ‘racehorse’. An ‘extremely special’ bowler. (8/25)

“He’s strong. He's got the best seam position in world cricket. If you look at the way he releases the ball & trajectory, it is best in world cricket. At 140-plus, if ball is going to move after pitching, it gives batsmen least amount of time to adjust,” says Arun of Shami.(9/25)

Arun was absolutely fascinated by Shami. He once told me “fast bowlers are like racehorses. Stallions. They need to be treated that way”. He treated them that way. ‘If you want the best out of Shami, just allow him to eat well. He loves his food”. These were small gems. (10/25)

There was a time when Shami was extremely low. His personal life was in tatters. Diet got affected, mind was distracted. Arun doesn’t share personal details. He just says: “Me & Ravi sat down with him and just told him this one thing: Don’t let this affect your cricket”. (11/25)

Anything else troubling Shami, just a good serving of biryani would bring him back into good mood, says Arun. That’s the kind of coach he has been – less an expert, more a friend. There are times when cricketers don't need advice. They just need a shoulder. Works wonders. (12/25)

So, Shami was in the plans. And so was Ishant. Umesh was around, had good pace, but would spray. That had to be in control. Bhuvi was talented but lacked pace. India needed one more guy – Every Troy Cooley needs a Simon Jones. Who would that be? (13/25)

Ideally, every national coach will go looking into the country’s First Class circuit. Isn’t there where talent is unearthed. Of course. But in this instance, and in the case of this particular bowler, Ravi and Arun made a small exception. They went looking into the IPL. (14/25)

It takes guts to rope in a fast bowler who’s not played a single First-Class game into the Test squad – apropos of the talent. But Jasprit Bumrah was special. Arun had seen him in the IPL (as RCB coach). At NCA, he’d seen Bumrah. He thought he’d seen enough. (15/25)

What mattered is that he could whip up pace. Bumrah was just 23 going on 24 and this bowler with a hard-to-digest action had picked 20 wickets in the 2017 IPL season. 15 in 2016. Until that year, Boom used to be in and out of the MI team. (16/25)

But Arun noticed something different. With each passing year, the boy was growing in confidence. He was showing instincts that made him a natural part of a wolf-pack. A wolf-pack is what Arun was looking to put in place. It was time to say hello to Bumrah. (17/25)

It was sometime during the tour of Sri Lanka in 2017. Ravi & Arun met Boom & told him about their plans. He’d be on the flight to South Africa. The young man hit the nets running. And what we saw in the second innings at Cape Town – a Test match fast bowler was born. (18/25)

Arun will tell you, his biggest fight in the last four years has been about workload management of fast bowlers. In that, he says, lies the key to their doing well or even sustaining at the highest level. A racehorse can’t be running just every race with any horse. (19/25)

The tours of SA, Eng and Australia were very engaging ones for Arun and India’s fast bowling attack. Michael Holding is always right. In the case of Bumrah, he once admitted – after coming down heavily first – he’d wait and watch. It worked. (20/25)

“Bumrah has been the driving force of this fast bowling attack. He came in and took the world by storm. That motivated others to step up. That was the initial build-up to this attack. It all started in South Africa,” says Arun. (21/25)

He remembers him and Ravi having this discussion with the pace attack. “Now on, no bowling up”. It meant, bowling just about the length or shorter. That meant whipping up pace. That meant stricter regimens and discipline. It wasn’t overnight. (22/25)

Between Bumrah, Ishant and Shami, they had a combined tally of 276 wickets between Jan 2018 and the start of the Leed's Test this year. That's a cumulative average of 22.5. A remarkable stat. (23/25)

But since comparisons are bound to happen, let's take an overall view. Only Southee, Cummins ave more wickets -- individually -- than this trio among bowlers who played a maximum of 26 Tests in the 42 months between 2018 Cape Town and 2021 Leeds. (24/25)

Anderson and Broad, by virtue of having played 31 and 36 Tests respectively, during the same period, had 104 and 126 wickets. These are phenomenal numbers and the credit, outside of the players, goes to Arun alone. (25/25)

Correction in tweet 15: not "never played a First Class game" but "was hardly playing First Class cricket during that time". **