BANGALORE: Former spin ace Raghuram Bhat, who has scalps of Javed Miandad and Clive Lloyd among his Test victims, readily admitted that he is “still learning.” At the specialist coaches clinic at the NCA on Tuesday, Raghuram, who coaches spin bowling to juniors, said that he thought that he understood the doosra until biomechanist, Dr Rene Ferdinands demonstrated an alternative method of delivery.

“I got it, but I did not know how to put it across. Then I listened to him and I knew what it was. That gave me a breakthrough there,” said Raghuram.

For Gujarat coach Ashok Patel, who played eight ODIs in 1984-85, cricket is still a ‘hobby’ and the sophisticated information he is getting is a whole new ball-game.

“Nowadays, we concentrate more on physical fitness, biomechanics and he technical side. Twenty years ago, we just played for fun and enjoyment,” he added.

NCA director of operations, Dav Whatmore, is delighted with the trend.

“I think it reflects the amount of information and the change that cricket has undergone which has prompted people who have played the game at the highest level to revisit and to pick up as much as they can in the modern game,” Whatmore said.

Women cricketer Sudha Shah, who has played 21 Tests and 13 ODIs, is now coach of the Indian women’s team, which goes into a camp this weekend ahead of the World Cup in March.

“I was more into batting. I used to roll my arm over bowling off-spinners. But, if I’d come to this course while I was playing, I would have been a great bowler. I’ve learned such a lot from this, the finer points and all. It really would have made a difference,” she said.

“The first course I came to, I did feel a little out of place, and it takes a little while for them to accept you. I guess now, they’ve got used to it and they have accepted it,” she felt.

Former internationals L Sivaramakrishnan and Venkatapathy Raju took the participants through the techniques of video analysis. This was followed by a practical session of error correction in the indoor nets under the watchful eye of faculty bowling coach B Arun.

Later, NCA strength and conditioning expert, Paul Chapman, outlined the physical fitness requirements for spin bowling.