Visuals of tearaway Deepesh Devendran hitting 146kph in the ongoing 20-overs Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) have gone a bit viral on social media. The 18-year-old fast bowler, who touched speeds close to 140kph during India's run to the Under-19 World Cup title in February, has now cranked it up even further in his first TNPL season.
Playing for Madurai Panthers under coach KB Arun Karthik, Deepesh has repeatedly hurried batters with his extreme pace and bounce. Though he has sprayed the odd ball down the leg side, he understands that pace is his strength and does not want to compromise on it.
"Bowling fast is something that comes to me naturally," Deepesh says on the sidelines of a training session at Chepauk during the TNPL. "I don't fear if I will get injured and I'm not worrying about it too much. I know what works for me. I want to be fit, hit my lengths and have fun pannuven (have fun)."
Earlier this month in Dindigul, Deepesh clocked 146kph, having an inducker to crash into the stumps of Jaffer Jamal, who has played 20 T20 games for Kerala, before the batter could even react. Deepesh got to know that he had breached the 145-kph barrier only after he returned to the team hotel.
"I didn't see the speed gun at that point actually and it was my team-mates who told me," he says. "I thought it may have been around 140kph but it got up to 146kph. I think after that over, I didn't do well and gave away some runs, so I didn't think too much about it and just went to the team hotel."
Deepesh attributed his recent spike in pace to bowling more balls during the off-season and stints with his mentor and club-mate Sandeep Warrier, who is probably the only other bowler in Tamil Nadu who can consistently clock 140kph.
"I didn't specifically work to increase my speed to 145kph," Deepesh says. "I think I did a lot of volume and kept bowling after the World Cup, played [the Chennai] league and I feel it's a result of that. I still do the same weights and gym work, but it's the volume [of bowling] which has increased. I believe my pace has increased to 145 because of bowling more balls.
"After finishing the [multi-day] first division league, I spoke to Sandeep Warrier and asked him for some ideas and I developed my pace. I feel Sandy anna [brother] knows my bowling better than myself. Whatever he has advised has worked for me. Apart from Sandy anna, I speak to AC Prathiban, our bowling coach at Madurai [who is also Varun Chakravarthy's personal bowling coach]."
At 18, Deepesh is still raw, uncapped in the Ranji Trophy, and is learning to manage his body better.
"I focus on recovery and gym," he says. "I do ice baths and do proper stretching, and rest is also needed. After playing a game, I get an ice bath and have a good sleep to be in a good space."
Deepesh's attitude has been aggressive too - he has exchanged verbals with batters, even at the India Under-19 levels, showing that he relishes a contest of any kind. He has also celebrated some of his wickets with aggression during the TNPL and pulled off an arrow celebration like Maheesh Theekshana.
"My father [V Devendran, former TN player] has also told me not to be this aggressive (laughs)," Deepesh says. "But it comes to me naturally and I'm just being myself. It was actually my Madurai team physio who gave me the idea about the arrow celebration and I started doing it. I have one or two celebrations in my mind, and in the heat of the moment I did what I felt."
Deepesh is no one-trick pony. He has also displayed his ability to cut his pace down to 110kph and get his slower offcutter to dip sharply. Though the standard of batting hasn't been great in the TNPL, especially in recent times, it's another sign of Deepesh's progress as a bowler.
"The slower offcutter is my other stock ball that works for me [in white-ball cricket] and I'm training to control it," he says. "The more you bowl it at the nets, you get to control it. It's also something I worked with Sandy anna and trying to get right."
Deepesh's ability to set the speed gun on fire, in particular, has excited many people in Tamil Nadu's cricketing circles, including Yo Mahesh, who is now TN's new head coach after working with Deepesh at the Under-19 state level. With Warrier set to move to Chhattisgarh for the upcoming domestic season, there is an opening for Deepesh to step into the state team across formats, but he doesn't want to get ahead of himself.
"I don't think my life has changed since winning the World Cup. I keep doing the same things and I have the same set of friends. I'm not someone who sets goals - like I have to play for India, IPL or Ranji for Tamil Nadu. Whatever is going to happen, will happen. I don't overthink. Even if I bowl badly in a match, I will leave it on the field and will not take it to my room."