On the grandest stage of Indian domestic cricket — the Ranji Trophy final last season — a young fast bowler from Kerala thrust himself into the collective consciousness of the fans by bowling with sustained hostility.

It was his first First Class match after recovering from a career-threatening stress fracture on his back, the then 19-year-old Eden Apple Tom devoured Vidarbha’s batting stars like Dhruv Shorey, Yash Rathod and Akshay Wadkar in the first innings. It was a spell which earned praise from former India fast bowler Prashant Vaidya and underlined his immense potential.

However, having set high standards, Eden wasn’t able to live up to the expectations in the first leg of the Ranji Trophy season, though the bowler insists he was closer to his best in the last league match against Madhya Pradesh.

In the season opener, Eden came on to bowl with Maharashtra reeling at 55 for five, but he failed to make use of excellent bowling conditions and sprayed the ball around. He showed signs of regaining form in the match against Saurashtra, but dropped catches didn’t help his confidence.

“It’s not that I was struggling. I bowled close to my best in the last league game against Madhya Pradesh. But I admit I was a bit confused and wasn’t calm when I bowled against Maharashtra. Now I have realised my mistake and with every match I am learning and improving,” said Eden.

He didn’t have a great time in the Kerala Cricket League (KCL) and failed to get an IPL contract. But Eden has taken the setback in his stride and is working hard to improve his white-ball skills. “I’m still struggling to find my feet in white-ball cricket, I didn’t play much of it when I was with the Kerala junior teams. My first experience with the white ball was while attending the under-19 India camp. Mostly I bowl hard lengths and I have to learn to control the movement with the white ball. I am working on my variations with help of my coaches and senior bowlers,” he said after the Vijay Hazare Trophy game against Madhya Pradesh. It was only Eden’s second List A match after having made his debut against Baroda last year.

Former Kerala captain Sony Cheruvathur, who coached Eden in his formative years, feels his ward needs to develop two or three variations and should learn to use it in match situations. “The hard length he bowls in white-ball cricket makes him predictable. He has to develop variations and use them intelligently without giving any clue to the batters,” said Sony.