ODI CWC: Food delivery boy turns into net bowler for Netherlands cricket team

Netherland cricket's preparatory steps ahead of the World Cup have turned a food delivery boy Lokesh Kumar into a net bowler as he will roll his arm to help the team's batters tackle spinners. The Netherlands had advertised for the role on social media and Lokesh was selected after an assessment.

Hyderabad: The ODI World Cup 2023 is just a few days away with the opening fixture set to be played on October 5 between England and New Zealand.

The Netherlands are one of the first teams to have touched base in India in order to prepare for the marquee event. However, their arrival to the country resulted in an unusual occurrence of a food delivery boy named Lokesh Kumar joining the side as a net bowler.

Lokesh's life was changed upside down in 48 hours as he got selected to be the net bowler to help Dutch batters tackle spinners in the upcoming World Cup. The Indian pitches are conducive for spin bowling.

Upon reaching the Indian shores, the Dutch camp advertised the role of the net bowler on social media. Lokesh, who has been working in the food delivery industry since 2018 also appeared for the trials and was selected after an assessment.

The life of the Swiggy food delivery executive changed very soon as he was one of the four net bowlers to be picked by the Netherlands team management from around 10,000 candidates. The left-arm pacer turned wrist-spinner sent his entry by uploading a bowling video on social media and will now rotate his arm against the Netherland batters in a training camp in Alur in Karnataka.

The Netherlands cricket team were looking to rope in one bowler each in four categories. They were looking for a left-arm spinner, right-arm spinner, chinaman and mystery spinner. The 29-year-old will now be keen to learn from the experience of those who have played international cricket.