Throwdown Specialist Raghu Joins Team India After Being In Quarantine For 24 Days
Published - 03 Dec 2020, 07:19 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:37 AM
D Raghavendra – known as Raghu – the throwdown specialist of the Indian team, will join the team after completing his quarantine period in Australia. Raghu didn’t fly to UAE to join other members of Team India to fly Australia as he was tested positive for covid-19 in India.
Raghu was tested positive for coronavirus in Bangalore in October. After serving a 14 day isolation period, he flew to Sydney. But there he recorded a false positive in quarantine, hence extending his isolation time to another 10 days. Raghu was freed on Thursday and will join the squad ahead of the T20I series.
What is the role of Raghu?
Raghu has been a highly appreciated member of the Indian team support staff. He has been with the team since 2011 as an attendee. He was the training assistant on the 2014 England tour, and then he became the throwdown specialist owing to his strong arm.
He now tours with the team as a full-time staff member. The kind of job profile of Raghu is rare in cricket. He has the ability to hurl down deliveries over 150 kph.
Raghu was part of the team which won the Test series in Australia in 2018-19. He gives practice to the batters and prepares them for the short and fast bowling they are going to face.
Virat Kohli’s team lost the ODI series 2-1, but have gained significant positives from their victory in the third ODI in Canberra. The 3-match T20I series commences on Friday at the same venue. Two warm-up matches are slated before the highly-anticipated Test series begins in Adelaide with a pin-ball day-night affair.
This will be followed by the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, New Year’s Test in Sydney, and the last match in Australia’s fortress, Brisbane.
