McGrath to train India’s fast bowlers

Glenn McGrath has signed up to guide India’s current and future fast bowlers for the next five years, giving a boost to the country’s young talent.

The Australian great will train the likes of Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron alongside promising youngsters at the MRF Pace Foundation in the southern city of Chennai, which he has headed since 2012 after replacing countryman Dennis Lillee.

“It has been a wonderful couple of years for me at the MRF Pace Foundation,” said McGrath, 44, who retired in 2007 with 563 Test and 381 one-day wickets.

“I now eagerly look forward to working with India’s best at the foundation. Our facilities compare favourably with the best in the world and I am eagerly looking forward to this challenge,” he said in a statement.

India, beaten 3-1 in the recent Test series in England, are due to tour Australia later in the year for Tests and one-day cricket ahead of the World Cup in Australasia in February-March.

On their previous tour to Australia in 2011, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men were blanked 4-0 in the Tests and lack of adequate fast bowling resources was cited as a major reason.

Among former Indian fast bowlers who trained under Lillee at the MRF Foundation over the years were Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan.

The Foundation, which started in 1987 and is open to bowlers from all countries, has also attracted the likes of Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson of Australia, Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas and New Zealand’s Shane Bond.

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