There are many who have donned such a role and India and Uttar Pradesh's former India left-arm fast bowler Rudra Pratap Singh is one of them.
The trend these days in Indian cricket is when an international cricketer is not in contention and is past his prime, he switches to another state as a pro and takes the role of mentoring the youngsters.
There are many who have donned such a role and India and Uttar Pradesh's former India left-arm fast bowler Rudra Pratap Singh is one of them.
However, even today when RP, in his second season for Gujarat, clocks 135 kmph above, sometimes goes beyond 139, swings the ball both ways.
Currently playing the Ranji Trophy final, he hasn't been successful in terms of number of wickets but he has had the Mumbai batsmen on their toes. Opener Akhil Herwadkar showed him respect leaving the away going deliveries before RP brought one in to trap him leg-before in front of the wickets.
The teen sensation Prithvi Shaw was beaten a few times, but he extracted boundaries from some deliveries, but they weren't as convincing except for that one classy on-drive which even left RP spellbound.
In the middle of the day, RP got Mumbai's crisis man Siddhesh Lad with a quick short ball that spelt big trouble for the defending champions.
Playing his first Ranji Trophy final, he finished with figures of 21-6-48-2 with an impressive economy rate of 2.28 on Day One.
RP has played a big role for Gujarat making the final this season. Although, he picks and chooses the game, he has clearly been more than effective as the mentor for pacers Jasprit Bumrah & Co.
The pacer, whose wife hails from Gujarat, hasn't demanded any professional fee to play for the state, revealed coach Vijay Patel
"You will be surprised to know, he is a professional but he is not taking a fee like one. He is only taking the match fee. We just had one Test player in our side — Parthiv Patel. So there was too much pressure on him and his batting was also getting affected by it," said Patel.
"Three years ago, we had called Venugopal Rao to our team thinking that he can help with our batting. One year, we got Ramesh Powar to help our spinners.
"Now, we have brought RP. If you go to see, all three — Venugopal, Ramesh Powar and RP, their days in international cricket were finished. They were just playing. The best part is he has gelled well with the team. It seems like he is one of our boys," he added.
Patel said he has played a huge role as a mentor to the young seamers in Gujarat team. "Definitely, he has been a mentor to our side. He is helping Jasprit (Bumrah), Rush (Kalaria)and Chintan Gaja.
"On the field, whatever tricks is there he is planning that. Because he has played at that level. He knows what works and what doesn't, which has helped our pace bowlers a lot."
RP doesn't play all the games for Gujarat. After the three league games against Punjab, Railways and Baroda, he played the semifinals against Jharkhand where he took nine wickets (6/90 & 3/25).
"Somewhere we knew, he couldn't play all the matches given his age and fitness. So we also planned accordingly in which match to play him and which match we need to rest him. We need to play him in big matches."
14
Number of wickets RP Singh took in this season for Gujarat in four games before the finals.
40
Number of wickets RP Singh has taken in Test cricket with three four-wicket hauls and one five-wicket haul. In ODI's he has 47
Did you know?
RP Singh's last Test for India was against England in 2011. He was on a holiday in Miami till he got an SOS from the Indian team management to join the team for ability to swing the ball both ways. However, he couldn't impress in that series.
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