I am not overawed by reputations: Blignaut

Fast bowler Andy Blignaut, the star of Zimbabwe's victory in the second Test against India at Harare on Monday, is not overawed by reputations and feels the right line and length yield results against any batsman.

Blignaut took six wickets in the Test to bag the man-of-the-match award. Having accounted for Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman twice in the Test series and Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly once, he was worth more than the nine wickets he picked up from the two games.

"I don't get overawed by reputations," Blignaut said. "I just wanted to bowl in the channel, on or outside the off-stump."

The 22-year-old seamer has ambitions of becoming the Lance Klusener of Zimbabwe - a powerful hitter in the lower order and a more than useful fast-medium bowler. But he didn't have the right approach - until now.

"He was a spoilt rich kid. He had that air about him where he couldn't care any less about anything or anyone else," says former Zimbabwe captain Dave Houghton who coached Blignaut at the CFX Academy.

"Having said that, one must appreciate how quickly he realised he must work hard to get back into the international arena. Also, he is one of the cleanest strikers of a cricket ball I have seen. He once hit Damien Fleming of Australia for three successive sixes in a one-day international in Bulawayo, all whistling clean hits," Houghton said.

After a couple of such powerful innings against Australia, Blignaut was let down by his back and he was out of international cricket for several months.

"I've been struggling with a stress fracture. One of the vertebrae of my back was cracked," Blignaut said. "That's put me out for six or seven months."

Andy, as he is called though his given name is Arnoldus, was out of cricket between December 1999 and February 2000, missing the home tours by South Africa and Sri Lanka, and the triangular tournament in South Africa also involving England.

"I have tried to become a bit more of a front-on bowler instead of a side-on bowler to conserve my back," Blignaut said.

When he was growing up, Blignaut was advised to bowl leg-spin so that his body could avoid the strain of fast bowling. But his heart was in pace bowling and he soon returned to his old style.

Bowling for him has always come naturally and he received little coaching in his early years. He did spend some time at the MRF Pace Foundation at Chennai, along with Brighton Watambwa, where Dennis Lillee assured him that he had the right action for a bowler of genuine pace.

Blignaut still does not have a contract with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union and is paid roughly $150 per game.

"I hope to have a contract with the ZCU soon. I had a chronic back injury and they probably felt I wasn't worth the risk," he said.