Published: Apr 13, 2011, 11:04 AM (IST)
Edited: Aug 16, 2014, 10:54 AM (IST)
By Nishad Pai Vaidya
India is a cricket-crazy nation where millions of fans who play the sport at some level dream of reaching the highest level and bringing laurels to the country. Unfortunately, only a few make it to the pinnacle and attain stardom.
There have been many fantastic domestic players who did not feature at the international level simply because they were playing at the wrong time. These players have awesome first-class records, but were not picked for the national side because some of the best players of all time happened to be of their generation and playing for the country. In the past, India has seen quite a few talented players who failed in their bid to play international cricket. These players dominated the Ranji Trophy with stellar performances that should have been worthy enough to earn a national call.
When India’s great spin quartet – Bishan Singh Bedi, EAS Prasanna, Srinivas Venkatraghavan and Bhagwat Chandrashekhar – ruled the roost, it was almost impossible for other spinners to make it to the Indian team. Players like Padmakar Shivalkar and Rajinder Goel continued to perform brilliantly in the Ranji Trophy, but without making it to the national team. Their misfortune was that their career coincided with that of the legendary Bishan Bedi. In his book “Idols”, where Sunil Gavaskar talks about the greatest international players of his playing time, he listed both Shivalkar and Goel, describing them as “unlucky” not to have played Test cricket for India.
Since the late ’90s, India has possessed a batting line-up that any team in the world would envy. When Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman made their debuts in 1996, they joined Sachin Tendulkar to form one of the strongest batting line-ups going around. Amol Muzumdar, who scored a double hundred on first-class debut and continued to perform at the domestic level, was expected to make it to the Indian line-up at some point. However, he didn’t make the cut, simply because the famed batting line-up played during the peak of his career. He played for the India u-19 team and the A-side, but never made it to the highest level.
When I look at all these players who missed out, I begin to value the Indian Premier League (IPL) even more. More than the entertainment value of the tournament, its biggest plus point is the stage it provides to the domestic players to display their talent. The platform is there for them to perform, become famous and also push their case for national selection.
Compared to the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, a lot more cricket is played today. This is mainly due to the increase in the number of overs-limit cricket in the form of ODIs and T20s. This gives various talented players a chance to play for the country in the limited-over internationals and push their cases for a Test cap. The IPL is a great platform for domestic get to the ODI and T20 sides.
The T20 league has already helped unearth some fantastic talent – for example, Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra in the 2008 IPL season. Ojha was picked immediately after that tournament for the tri-series in Bangladesh and the Asia Cup in Pakistan. He was impressive with his left-arm spin and has been a part of India squads for most tournaments since then. His performances in ODIs helped him get a Test call-up when Sri Lanka toured India in late 2009.
Mishra is another player who gained prominence due to the IPL. He had played for India in ODIs in 2003, but had gone off the selector’s radar. The IPL in 2008 helped him make a comeback and play for India in Tests against Australia that year. He immediately impressed with a five-wicket haul on debut as India beat Australia by a huge margin.
Ravichandran Ashwin was fantastic during IPL 2010. His accurate and economical bowling and good temperament were noticed and he was awarded an India cap on the tour to Zimbabwe in June 2010. Since then he has performed well in ODIs and was also a part of the squad that lifted the World Cup earlier this month. In the two games he played in the World Cup, he showed that he was cut out for the highest level of the game.
R Vinay Kumar’s accurate bowling in the 2010 edition helped him get picked for the ICC World T20 held in the Caribbean. Manish Pandey was named among the probables for the same tournament. Saurabh Tiwary earned a place in the Indian team for the Asia Cup 2010. He subsequently made his debut in October against Australia. The other players who got opportunities to play for India due to their performances in the IPL include Ashok Dinda, Naman Ojha and Umesh Yadav.
It is really great to see some of the domestic players putting in consistent performances in the IPL. When compared to the players of yesteryear, these players are really lucky to get the platform called IPL. Some of them may not go on to play Test cricket, but at least they may get an opportunity to represent the country in ODIs and T20s. Playing for the country is what every budding player dreams of and the IPL gives them an opportunity to try to achieve it.
(Nishad Pai Vaidya, a 20-year-old law student, is a club and college-level cricketer. His teachers always complain, “He knows the stats and facts of cricket more than the subjects we teach him.”)
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