Permaul Eyes Patience, Consistency On Tour Of India

KOLKATA, India – West Indies left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul has outlined a simple plan for bowling on the tour of India.

Veerasammy Permaul outlined his plans for the current India tour. Photo: windiescricket.com

Permaul grabbed 2-61 from 17 overs, as the Windies bowlers gained a bit of confidence before an Uttar Pradesh fight-back in their three-day, tour match on Friday at the Jadavpur University Complex.

He removed Mohammad Kaif and Arish Alam cheaply, as UP reached 206 for five, replying to the Windies’ first innings total of 466, when bad light stopped play about 25 minutes before the rescheduled close with 12 over remaining on the second day of three in the match

“This pitch was flatter than what we had when I visited last month with the West Indies A-Team,” said Permaul. “But I’ve learnt here in India, you have to be much more patient and bowl more consistent lines and lengths, allowing the batsmen to make the mistake.

“I think we are pretty happy with the way things have gone so far. We have to bowl with discipline and the outfield is pretty, so you are getting value for your strokes. I think this is a four runs-an-over ground, so we have not done too badly at the end of the day.”

The 24-year-old Permaul has come through the ranks and benefitted from a stint at the Sagicor West Indies High Performance Centre, being a member of the first training squad.

Recently, he returned to the HPC base at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies in Barbados to attend a spin bowling clinic with Pakistan legend Saqlain Mushtaq.

“Everybody knows Saqlain was a great bowler,” he said. “I try to learn all that I could – but due to the A-Team tour that occurred around the same time, I did not have a chance to get as much as I would have liked. But I still gained as much as I could during the time I spent with him.

He said: “The work on my variations is coming along well. I would like to learn how to bowl the “doosra”, but it will take time. I have to practice it more and hopefully in time to come I will be able to learn it. . .but I’m not working on anything special for this series.”

Permaul also plans to do some more learning in India: “Definitely, I will watch the way the Indian spinners bowl and try to pick up a few things from them. . .There is no one in particular I will watch more, it’s just all about learning from seeing what others do, but I have learnt a lot from spending a lot of time watching Daniel Vettori from New Zealand.”

On prospect of bowling to mighty Indian batting: “It will definitely be a challenge for me, if given the opportunity – but I am still looking forward to it and testing myself against them.”