Rajasthan Royals Head of Performance reveals taking this star to USA to learn baseball tactics for better power-hitting

He delved deep into how the revolution in baseball has evolved practice methods in cricket.

By Chandra Moulee Das May 16, 2024, 18:10 IST

IPL 2024?width=963&height=541&resizemode=4

Indian Premier League inaugural winners Rajasthan Royals (RR) made a fantastic start to their IPL 2024 campaign and were at the top of the table for the longest time. Although, they have suffered four consecutive defeats towards the end of the league stage, they have already secured their playoffs qualification due to some exemplary performances earlier in the season.

While the team overall has looked a better side, their batting department has shown significant improvements, posting 200-plus scores on multiple occasions throughout the season.

Shedding details in their preparations, Rajasthan Royals head of performance Zubin Bharucha revealed that the franchise has taken a leaf out of the popular American sport baseball.

Not only that, Bharucha revealed that they took veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to the other side of the world to learn certain baseball tactics in order to improve his hitting.

ALSO READ: New IPL sensation gets sold for whopping 15.6 lakhs in Andhra Premier League

Rajasthan Royals take a leaf out of USA's baseball

In an exclusive interview with Indian Express, Bharucha delved deep into how the revolution in baseball has evolved practice methods by targeting areas of the field with more power and timing.

“We took Ashwin to Seattle to explain baseball mechanics, both in batting and bowling, with a company called Driveline Baseball. They are the guys who created a revolution in baseball where they were able to increase the home runs by 50 per cent. What their research said was that in baseball, they were always hitting it flat. These guys used high technology literally in a garage and proved that it was wrong, and you hit upwards on the ball.”

Bharucha also highlighted that the RR management has encouraged their batters to experiment with heavy bats, light bats and also have been innovative with batting drills.

For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram and YouTube.