After a week of play, the IPL4 has shown that no team can be considered as favorites. Teams that were considered to be easy qualifiers (CSK and Mumbai Indians) have lost matches while entrants like Pune Warriors have notched up couple of wins already. But what is interesting to see is the march of young Indians who were not in the limelight so far. Two new teams meant that fourteen Indian players will get a chance to play against the best from around the world - this alone must be the single silver lining of adding more teams to the already crowded IPL.
The first match saw the rise of Anirudha Srikkanth - a player who has been under the influence of his father throughout his career. His innings saw CSK scrape through their first match at home but even he will admit that he has been overshadowed by an opponent he faced in CSK's second match - Paul Valthaty. Valthaty is now all over the papers as well as the television for his blistering knock to take his team past CSK. His tale has been an interesting one - playing the junior World Cup for India only to be sidelined by an eye injury and then make a comeback like this is nothing short of a fairy tale.
Bharat Chipli and Ambati Rayudu have been performing for their team in the opportunities received so far. Rayudu's innings against RCB got the praise of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who pulled him along to take the MoM award. Another junior World Cup player, Rayudu was lost to the world because of his ICL exploits but has been making a comeback of sorts through the IPL. Bharat, however, has not done much of note for his state team in the domestic tournament but has been regarded for quite a while as the one to watch out for. Manish Pandey might have overtook him in the popularity stakes but Bharat seems to have caught up with him.
On the bowling front, Iqbal Abdulla has been a revelation - consistently doing well for Mumbai state meant that he has been knocking on the selection doors. This performance will augur well for him in future assignments. Siddharth Trivedi has been steady for Rajasthan Royals - a role he has been doing consistently in the previous three editions also. Why he cannot make use of this and goto the next level is a surprise.
Overall, it is heartening to see Indian talent shining through a number of international players - something to cheer about in this cricketainment show of BCCI.
The first match saw the rise of Anirudha Srikkanth - a player who has been under the influence of his father throughout his career. His innings saw CSK scrape through their first match at home but even he will admit that he has been overshadowed by an opponent he faced in CSK's second match - Paul Valthaty. Valthaty is now all over the papers as well as the television for his blistering knock to take his team past CSK. His tale has been an interesting one - playing the junior World Cup for India only to be sidelined by an eye injury and then make a comeback like this is nothing short of a fairy tale.
Bharat Chipli and Ambati Rayudu have been performing for their team in the opportunities received so far. Rayudu's innings against RCB got the praise of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who pulled him along to take the MoM award. Another junior World Cup player, Rayudu was lost to the world because of his ICL exploits but has been making a comeback of sorts through the IPL. Bharat, however, has not done much of note for his state team in the domestic tournament but has been regarded for quite a while as the one to watch out for. Manish Pandey might have overtook him in the popularity stakes but Bharat seems to have caught up with him.
On the bowling front, Iqbal Abdulla has been a revelation - consistently doing well for Mumbai state meant that he has been knocking on the selection doors. This performance will augur well for him in future assignments. Siddharth Trivedi has been steady for Rajasthan Royals - a role he has been doing consistently in the previous three editions also. Why he cannot make use of this and goto the next level is a surprise.
Overall, it is heartening to see Indian talent shining through a number of international players - something to cheer about in this cricketainment show of BCCI.
No comments:
Post a Comment