Indian side-arm specialists joins England team for ICC Cricket World Cup 2023

England have roped in Indian side-arm specialist Saurabh Ambatkar for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

England have enlisted a cricket specialist from India to assist them in preparing for the World Cup, where they'll be facing left-arm fast bowlers.

In cricket training, a tool called a sidearm, similar in appearance to a dog-throwing tool, has become quite popular among professionals over the last decade. In England's training sessions, coaches have been using it extensively.

In 2019, England's batsmen were widely seen as having a vulnerability to left-arm seam bowlers, especially after they lost nine wickets to Jason Behrendorff and Mitchell Starc in their defeat to Australia at Lord's during the 2019 World Cup. In that World Cup, they lost 20 wickets to left-arm seam bowlers, the most among all teams.

In their upcoming opening game of the 2023 World Cup in Ahmedabad this week, England will once again face a left-arm seamer they are familiar with in New Zealand's Trent Boult. Boult had a strong performance against England last month, taking 8 wickets in two matches, and he is expected to be the one to open the bowling on Thursday.

To reduce the workload on their main coaches, England have brought in Saurabh Ambatkar, a former youth cricketer from Mumbai and Vidarbha. He will be accompanying the team throughout the 2023 ODI World Cup, having joined them in Guwahati recently.

What sets Ambatkar apart is that he throws with his left hand, in contrast to England head coach Matthew Mott and his four assistants who all use their right hand. This difference will add diversity to England's training sessions and help them prepare effectively to face the significant number of left-arm seam bowlers they'll encounter during the seven-week tournament in India.

Ambatkar has been working as part of the support team for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL) over the past few seasons. He has also been involved with the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in the United Arab Emirates' T20 league (ILT20). During his time with these teams, he collaborated closely with England's team manager, Wayne Bentley, who holds a similar position at KKR.

England's World Cup campaign will kick off with a match against New Zealand on October 5th at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.