The first thing you notice is the run-up. It is short, almost apologetic, and it ends with a pause that seems to last a fraction too long. Then the ball arrives, and the batter discovers that the pause was the point.
Nineteen-year-old Ravi Deshmukh has taken 23 wickets in his first three first-class matches for Maharashtra, including a 7 for 41 against Gujarat that made the national selectors reach for their notebooks.
His coach is trying to keep the noise down. “He is a kid,” he says. “Let him be a kid. The wickets are nice. The important thing is that he learns what to do when the wickets stop coming.”
For now, the wickets are not stopping.