Cricket | ‘I am a little bit like Ashwin’: Ambidextrous Aussie Nivethan Radhakrishnan hopes to emulate Nathan Lyon | Cricket News

The 22-year-old spinner with Chennai roots is also an Ashwin fanCHENNAI: Nivethan Radhakrishnan, a Chennai-born youngster whose family shifted to Sydney in 2013, possesses the rare skill of bowling with both arms.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!An ambidextrous finger spinner who also bats at top of the order for Tasmania, Nivethan is hoping to shine in Australia’s domestic cricket, after setting the age-group stage alight. The 22-year-old is back ‘home’ with a purpose — he is one of 12 players in the Cricket Australia (CA) developmental squad that has made the trip to Chennai for a stint at the MRF Academy.

Taking inspiration from Ravichandran Ashwin and Nathan Lyon, two of the greatest in their craft, Nivethan is eager to add “consistency” and variety to an already difficult art. “Having honed my skills as a professional cricketer over the last few years, I have understood that I am nowhere near the finished product. There are so many things that I need to improve on,” said Nivethan, a member of Australia’s 2022 U-19 World Cup squad.“I feel that I am a little bit like Ashwin. I change my action a lot depending on what I find suitable at that time — tactically and technically. Bowling at different paces and with different trajectories, and bowling with consistency like Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja, that is how I want to be. It is easier said than done, but a trip like this will surely help me,” he added.Nivethan referred to Lyon as a “prototype” for an Australian offspinner. Despite not getting much help from pace-friendly pitches Down Under, the 37-year-old Lyon has managed to bag 268 wickets in 133 innings on Australian soil. “When I am bowling right-arm, there are similarities in action with Lyon. He still takes wickets everywhere, but if you want to take wickets as a finger spinner in Australia, Lyon is the guy to look up to.”Showing the ambition to raise his level, Nivethan is eager to master right-arm leg-spin as well. “I try to explore those skills and I do bowl the odd leggie with my right arm, especially in white-ball cricket. I am just trying to understand when to bowl it. It is easy to bowl as a variation but there is a lot of pressure involved when you execute it in particular situations. It is definitely a work in progress,” he said.As part of his learning process, Nivethan analyses how fellow ambidextrous spinners Kamindu Mendis (Sri Lanka) and Akshay Karnewar (Vidarbha) go about their business.