Like Ekta Kapoor gave new stars to the television industry, IPL has extracted stars from no where and given some of the forgotten ones a new lease of life.
Once the IPL ends, it would be interesting to see whether or not the rising stars or the comeback heroes make a cut to wear the Blue jerseys.
The excitement does not seem to die, stories seep from every moment witnessed. Like Ekta Kapoor gave new stars to the television industry, IPL has extracted stars from no where and given some of the forgotten ones a new lease of life. But the important question is whether the rise of a Shane Warne inspired Swapnil Asnodkar or the steady progress of an Ashok Dinda as a quickie for Kolkata outfit will merit them a call for donning the national colours?
From the triumphant T20 outfit almost all the players have proved their mettle in IPL at some point or the other. Gautam Gambhir is going through a purple patch. He can do no wrong for sometime now. Whether it was the T20 championship or the Australian tour and now the IPL, his form was and is impeccable. His opening partner and team-mate Virender Sehwag hit some form in the Test series Down Under and showed why he can still be dangerous in the shorter and shortest version too.
Yusuf Pathan who was the make-shift opener in the T20 finals has impressed one and all with his all-round abilities while featuring for a resurgent Rajasthan Royals outfit. His quick off spinners with the new ball and lusty hitting in the middle order has turned matches upside down. Robin Uthappa has not shown his class yet, but has played well in patches for sometime. Unfortunately in IPL he has not been able to do much under the burden of higher responsibility in the absence of Sachin.
Coming to the six-ball-six-sixes man Yuvraj Singh, he has not been in the best of the form. But as someone said 'form is temporary class is permanent', this aptly describes a player like him. Mumbai lad and Deccan Chargers recruit Rohit Sharma is now tried and tested customer. Whether in T20 World Cup or the tour Down Under and now the IPL, Sharma has proved that playing shots from the text book can also get you runs. His limited overs game can be termed as 'Method in Madness'.
Strictly if you go in the order of batting, next to follow is the leader of the pack. He is IPL's most expensive player this season and also leads Chennai Superkings and Team India. MS Dhoni is irreplaceable for some years now. He got wicket-keeping standards in the country to a different level. He is followed by the reinvented Irfan Pathan. His intelligent off-cutters and more than useful batting down the order contributes a lot to the game. His style of bowling and batting both suits the limited version.
Talented Keralite, Shantakumaran Sreesanth has been a good new-ball bowler, but more often than not he has been in the news for things else than cricket. One of the most frequent visitor to the match referee's room, he needs to focus all his energies on his bowling. RP Singh was the new found hero of India in T20 campaign. After the successful crusade, he got injured and his comeback was not that impressive. But in IPL he has been amongst the wicket takers.
The 'troublesome Turbanator' has not been amongst wickets but been effective in patches. With the recent spat and a history going against him, he has now to be more careful than ever. But his experience is what counts the most and gives him an assured berth in the side. Dhoni's man in crisis, Joginder Sharma was no where to be found after his stellar performance in the T20 campaign. But again in the Indian Premier League co-incidentally he landed in Dhoni's team and performed to the expectations of his skipper.
The bench has never looked stronger for team India. A fit Zaheeer is always an asset. He missed out the T20 campaign due to injury but was in fiery form during the Irish and English tour. Piyush Chawla has adapted to petite version very well. He has got wickets consistently when given a chance and proved to be a great buy for Punjab franchisee in IPL. Dinesh Karthik has also been an ideal replacement in case of an injured Dhoni. Good batsman and a reliable glovesman with a great character are his trademarks.
But the best was to be found only when we played the best. Lanky Delhite Ishant Sharma was a bolt from the blue for the Australians in the last tour. He became their nemesis throughout the ODI tournament. His pace, bounce and movement was unplayable and there could not have been a better bowler in those conditions. With him in the last few matches came in Praveen Kumar. His gentle pace but ample movement bamboozled the Australian top-order. The Indian bowling line up never has looked so strong.
Now in between all these men, do you think a Swapnil Asnodkar can replace any batsmen we talked about? Does a Manpreet Gony stand a chance to replace a Sreesanth, Irfan, Praveen, Zaheer or Ishant on their current form? If Gony can't how would Ashok Dinda make a difference. Luck has gone Gony's way that he got selected to play for Dhoni's team. If he continues to impress Dhoni led Superkings, one should not be surprised seeing him donning Team India jersey.
The comeback heroes in Laxmipathy Balaji and Ashish Nehra have performed exceedingly well in patches. The smiling assassin, Balaji, could not have dreamed for a better comeback. A hat-trick on comeback and that also in the IPL was just too good. Nehra opening the bowling with Pollock for Mumbai Indians looked potent more often than not. He has been amongst the highest wicket-takers for the Mumbai Indians team. But the biggest surprise of all was Amit Mishra. He has been on the due to Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh's dominance. But he emulated Balaji's feat and got a hat-trick in IPL playing for Delhi Daredevils.
Venugopal Rao for Deccan Chargers has been scoring consistently. Being a Team India discard, Rao has proved a point with his batting. S Badrinath, a consistent domestic performer has also stood out while playing for Chennai Superkings. Call it his fortune that he is in a team whose captain also leads the national team. Surely his feats would not go unnoticed. Suresh Raina too is just waiting for his chance. His energetic fielding and stocky and effective batting can go his way, with age being on his side.
Mr. Vengsarkar and co. surely would not ignore the exploits of these men. But with the core team members fit and raring to go, these players would find difficult to make a cut. Until someone gets injured and as a replacement a couple of them can sneak in. But the question whether IPL merits a Team India selection remains unrequited till 'on your face' Col.Vengsarkar makes a statement or two. But these men have surely picked up on a battle which is big enough to matter and small enough to win.
s_gautam@dnaindia.net
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