The man of the series in his debut test series against England with 19 scalps to his name, Bangladesh off spinner Mehndi Hasan Miraj has been a regular feature to Bangladesh international fixtures.
Little we know, that’s there is a former stylish Indian spin bowler who was famous not for his bowling but also for his flamboyant red glasses which he used to wear while delivering his pin-point off spins.
The off spinner from Mumbai, who was also the head coach for Indian women team in 2021-2022 and who also had a brother .
His name is Ramesh Powar. Mehndi Hasan Miraj in an old interview said
“Ramesh Powar is my bowling idol. When I started practicing at young age, I used to bowl in different actions. I couldn’t find comfort in bowling in different actions. I couldn’t bowl in a suitable place too”
“Suddenly one day while watching a match of India, Ramesh Powar came in bowling. He was quite fat then. There was quite a turn in his bowling. I found his bowling action very nice. There were much turns too. I was thinking- so fat people, managed to bowl in such good place of the wicket with much turns. So, let’s try to bowl like him one day in the field.”
Well, Ramesh Powar did have a good nice bowling action, and his action allowed to put his body behind the ball, that used to get good turn for him.
Ramesh Powar had a mediocre career for India, but such is the competition in India, that even if you are making to the final 11 and only play few of the matches, that means you are one of the gold dust and Mehndi Hasan Miraj taking inspiration from Ramesh Powar also tells about that you don’t always need big names to get inspiration from, sometimes the answer is found in mediocrity, normality, in being average.
