A theory has been doing the rounds in my household about the Indian pace bowler Varun Aaron. Which is fine. You take what you can get with kids. Using a knife and fork, respectful attention to elders. There’s work to be done here. But theories about the careers of mid-rank Indian quicks are a definitive strong point and this one suggests Aaron, who hasn’t played international cricket since 2015, is an advanced Terminator android sent back in time by some future Indian cricket administration to end the top-level batting career of Stuart Broad.
The bouncer Aaron bowled into Broad’s grille at Old Trafford three and a half years ago remains the only really significant act of Aaron’s brief international career. Even from the sidelines it is a horribly painful memory. Not to mention a kind of end point in Broad’s batting career, leaving him with a degree of residual anxiety that makes every writhing, scarecrow-like attempt at facing Australia’s high-pace attack on the current Ashes tour an act of genuine courage.
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The question is whether Broad can rewire his circuit boards, jazz up his battery and come again
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