Throwdown specialist Raghu prefers India over England

What's the story?

D Raghavendra, popularly known as Raghu and currently responsible for throwdowns for the Indian team, has twice declined offers from the England Cricket Board (ECB) to become the England national team's throwdown specialist. “He declined the offers from other boards, mainly from the ECB. He wants to stay with the Indian team,” said a team official.

In case you didn't know..

Raghu is renowned for his side-arm throws, which are launched towards the batsmen in the nets at speeds of over 150 kmph, thus enabling the Indian batting line-up to counter the excessive pace of the opposition. In order to acclimatise to the quick and bouncy South African tracks, captain Virat Kohli also asked the young Raghu to throw from a close distance while he batted in the nets during the ongoing tour.

The heart of the matter

It was informed by the Indian team sources to the Pune Mirror that the ECB had offered Raghu a contract much before he was offered one by the BCCI. The first of those invitations from the English board had come in 2014 while the Indian side was on tour; when England reciprocated with a visit in 2016, they again made him an offer.

Raghu is believed to have a special liking for Indian cricketers, so much so that he went to meet Sachin Tendulkar from Bangalore without any money, thus allegedly having to spend the night sleeping in a graveyard. It was after that night that he finally ended up meeting Tendulkar at his home, which he has since done quite a few times.

In fact, recently, Raghu's salary was only INR 6 lakhs per annum which the BCCI has now more than tripled to 20 lakhs.

Author's Take

With the specialist having such a passion for his country's players, it was only expected that he continued his journey with the Indian team rather than going on to work with the English side instead.