Thaindian News

Mumbai, Nov 22 (IANS) After going through the grind on the first day of his Test debut against West Indies here Tuesday, India’s fast bowler Varun Aaron said he needs to work hard to get wickets at the top level.

Varun generated good pace and bounce from the wicket, hitting the deck regularly at more than 140 kmph, but often strayed in line. He went wicketless, bowling 16 overs in four spells that cost 47 runs.

“I got to know last evening that I would be making my debut. (VVS) Laxman handed me the Test cap. It was a tough day. Hopefully, it will get better from here,” said Varun.

“I was tense bowling the first spell. I feel my first two spells were okay but I could have bowled better in my third spell. It’s not going to come your way all the time. You have to work hard for your wickets, especially in Tests. It’s not going to be easy on such wickets. I will come back and try tomorrow,” he said.

“The wicket is not going to change much. It has not helped the seamers thus far and it won’t be of much help in the days to come either,” said Varun.

“I feel a lot of runs would be scored here over the four days. There is a lot of grass which is going to bind it. It is not likely to break much.”

Wankhede has been lucky ground for Varun. “You can call it my ground of debuts. I made my under-19 debut here and my ODI debut (against England) was a decent one as well. So I hope my Test debut is also a memorable one.”

The West Indies top order batted well to end the first day at 267/2. Varun said one or two more wickets come would have helped India’s cause, but said they would still look to restrict the West Indies to a total below 400.

Varun replaced another fast bowler Umesh Yadav, who was impressive in his first two Tests.

“He played two Tests. I suppose they wanted to give him rest before the one-dayers,” said the 22-year-old from Jharkhand.