The 2024 Ranji Trophy season will be remembered for some of the past Indian cricketers leaving the game for good. The list includes Manoj Tiwary, Saurabh Tiwary, Faiz Fazal, Dhawal Kulkarni, and also speedster Varun Aaron. The Jharkhand bowler, who was known to cross 150 kmph regularly, went through a spate of recurring injuries in a span of 15 years of his competitive cricket, and never achieved his true potential.
But after hanging his boots as a player, now it is time to focus on coaching, albeit, at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai, where he honed his skills as a teenager. “I have been at the MRF foundation for the past 15 years, more in the capacity of a player.
“Considering I was going to call time on one format, the company MD (Rahul Mammen Mappillai) and I had a chat last year. I suggested that we upgrade our facilities and start a hunt for raw fast bowlers, which we did recently to feed 140-plus pacers into the system,” Varun told Indian Express.
Varun Aaron, the Student of Bowling
His passion for bowling, and the understanding the body of a fast bowler doesn’t stop there as he is also studying sports science at the Ramachandra University in Chennai. “I want to be a sports scientist. I have a huge interest in the subject and just the way the body moves, and how fast bowlers can avoid injuries,” he added.
In fact Varun wants to be more than just a coach at the Academy, and has come up with a High Performance Centre. “Rahul Mammen has the vision to make the Pace Foundation the world’s premier fast bowling academy, which prompted him to accept my proposal. It’s going to be the first high-performance cricketing facility of its kind in India. We’re going to launch it in mid-April.
“We have imported some unbelievable equipment from all over the world. We are working with people from the top institutions in India to monitor the players’ sleep, workload, etc,” he said.
No Regrets on Career
Having retired from the longest format, Varun clarified that he had no regrets on his career. In fact, he went on to add that he still hasn’t retired from the game itself. “There are no regrets. I would not be content with whatever I’ve achieved. I still haven’t retired from cricket, I am still bowling well. So you never know what the future holds.
“I have had a lot of injuries. I don’t want fast bowlers making the mistakes I made. I want to pass on my knowledge to push their levels despite injuries and help them breach the 150kph mark.”
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