Arjun Nair’s rapid rise represents the changing face of Australian cricket, with the 17-year-old keen to follow in the footsteps of Gurinder Sandhu and Usman Khawaja as an Australian player of South Asian origin.
He launched himself into Sydney’s first grade competition at the age of 15, then made the Australian under-19 team, and is now a development rookie on the Sydney Thunder squad.
During his three years playing the highly competitive Sydney under-16 Green Shield competition, the Parramatta junior accumulated five centuries, and this is where the NSW selectors and Sydney grade clubs realised he was a special talent.
His batting style is similar to Virender Sehwag, featuring a vast array of shots which doesn’t allow bowlers to settle.
Yet his main attribute as a cricketer now is his spin bowling, rather than the batting that dominated his initial cricketing years.
In the state under-19 final, shown above, he took six wickets. Nair’s variation in his deliveries and his deadly doosra have troubled the best underage batsmen all over the country. His brisk pace for a spinner makes it difficult for a batsmen to come down the wicket, and sweeping is always a risk against his main length.
Australia has traditionally embraced orthodox spinners, like Shane Warne and Nathan Lyon, with John Inveraity even claiming that teaching the doosra was a matter of ‘integrity’. Thus it is interesting to see the rise of an unconventional bowler in the Australian landscape.
Nair would do well to look at the career of Sri Lankan Ajantha Mendis, who initially dominated international cricket before his ‘mystery balls’ were solved, as batsmen suddenly realised playing him as a medium pacer was a lot more effective.
The challenge Nair faces is how he evolves once batsmen are familiar with his unorthodox and unique action. However Nair is capable of standing up to new challenges.
Nair’s record last year was 17 wickets at an average of 33 – good figures for a young spinner. Combining this with the potential of his batting, where he has improved considerably from last season, means Australian cricket has a real gem on hand.
Australian cricket fans would do well to keep an eye out for Arjun Nair, and the Sydney Thunder should give their development rookie a chance.
Roger
Roar Rookie
O'Keefe will replace Nair when fit I am sure but Nair has shown his potential in his first class debut. His batting skills suggest he could be a future number 6 or 7. There is a very talented young leg spinner Devlin Malone who is taking plenty of first grade wickets in Sydney (also took 3 wk in the under 21 PG final yesterday) so O'Keefe will come under plenty of pressure to hold his NSW place in the next 1-2 seasons.
jamesb
Guest
Has taken 2 wickets, and made 37 with the bat. Heading into the final day, NSW need 87 runs with 5 wickets in hand. Nair is probably next in bat. Interesting game situation for Nair on debut.
Roger
Roar Rookie
Promising start for Nair- 2 wickets, 2 catches and now looking quite composed with the bat after the NSW top order collapsed.
Roger
Roar Rookie
Just 2 months after this article appeared, Nair is poised for his first class debut. Fantastic achievement for a 17 year old!
wenty Cricket
Guest
http:Teenage spinner Arjun Nair named in Sheffield Shield squad Cricket NSW Off-spinner Arjurn Nair, 17, has been named in the 12-man NSW squad for the Sheffield Shield match against South Australia at the C.ex Coffs International Stadium in Coffs Harbour, beginning on Thursday (February 25). //www.cricketnsw.com.au/news/nsw-shield-team-vs-sa/2016-02-23
cheso
Guest
Yep very impressive. Jordan Gauci is another with a huge future.
mattyb
Guest
Yes,all 10 wickets in an innings and 16 for the match,impressive figures could be an understatement.
Nudge
Guest
Was it all 10 wickets in the one innings Matt? Yeah it was Watto that was a huge fan
mattyb
Guest
Devlin Malone I'm sure you mean Nudge.I also read about him a few weeks back.Plays with Shane Watson who says he can't pick the kids wrongun in the nets.He also took 16 wickets for the match.
Jay
Guest
Doran is a quality player and I had seen in playing very well in England a few months back. He is a class above compared to lot of players in his age group. I am sure he will do well.
radha krishnan
Guest
Well summed the changing scenario. Arjun may or may not make it big. But the Author of this article is headed for higher honors! Too classy to miss out. Kudos mate.
Junior Coach
Guest
I coached against Arjun's team in the Parra U15's a few years ago , I thought he was easily the best young batsman I have seen in 20 years of coaching , his bowling was nothing special back then but he has obviously worked on that. As for Ronan's comments about him looking like a slow medium bowler-its fair enough, the grade coaches all try to get them to bowl that way- bugger turning it, just keep the runs down- which is sad. Another young bloke I coached , now playing 3rds has gone from having a lovely loop and curve through the air with lots of turn has gone to slow medium trash under the influence of overcoaching- young spinners should be encouraged to give it a rip!
Nudge
Guest
Isn't their a gun 16 year old Leggie carving up Sydney grade cricket at the moment ? Got a slight feeling he took all 10 wickets in an innings in his third or fourth game
dan ced
Guest
I've kept an eye on Doran's shield season with Tassie.. and I wish I hadn't! I'm sure he'll get in the runs at some stage. He basically replaced Jono Wells in the TAS team, and Doran has arguably been doing slightly better than Wells (for WA) this season.. so a minor success.
jamesb
Guest
The point I was making is there was alot of hype surrounding Doran. And so far, he is off to a slow start. I don't blame Doran, he is simply just a kid. But I do think that we shouldn't over hype youngsters. Yes, give the youngsters credit and recognition, but we shouldnt label them the next such and such.
Camo McD
Roar Guru
Interesting reading (and viewing), thanks Sameer.
Sameer Murthy
Roar Rookie
I think looking at 20 year old Sam Heazlett's success for Queensland is a much better indication of the strength of Australia's youth program. Matt Renshaw has also played extremely well for the same team which shows the importance of having a stable team culture. Jake Doran hasn't proved himself yet, but not easy when the team he is playing in is in a complete shambles. The media should stop making him a scapegoat and perhaps criticise the senior players in the team who aren't exactly leading from the front.
jamesb
Guest
When I read the first few paragraphs of this article, a thought came through my head. How is Jake Doran going?
Craig Swanson
Guest
I watched footage of Arjun as a 15 year old when he became one of the youngest ever to play Sydney first grade cricket. I saw a little of his bowling but it was his batting that impressed me most. A beautiful striker of the ball. He won countless junior awards and was picked in this year's U19 squad as a 17 year old. A big future for this Aussie born kid. Another youngster with an Indian background is Newcastle schoolboy Jason Sangha. This protege has just made the 2016 U19 World Cup squad at 16 years of age after and outstanding U17 national championships in August/September.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
A few years ago I was facing a spinner in the nets and had a few issues with him until I realised that the best way to approach playing him was to think of him as a medium pacer rather than a spinner. Suddenly he became a lot easier to play. I am still of the opinion that most of the methods used for bowling a Doosra are actually impossible without chucking. Hence the worry about spinners with a Doosra. An exception to this is possibly what has been referred to as the Carrum ball, which is a tricky flick out of the front of the fingers, it might be possible to do that without a chuck involved. To some extent the laws have been changed to allow such bowlers to remain in the game, but they are always flirting with the limits of the law, hence the comment about not teaching the Doosra being a matter of integrity. One way or another though, spin bowlers need to come up with legal ways of producing variations. Anyway, we'll see. I'm never a huge fan of these "keep an eye on this kid" sorts of things. He's probably at least 5 years from being a successful state cricketer, let alone an international prospect, even if he lives up to any such hype. And a lot can happen in that time.