Kolkata: Well, we’re just a few hours away from India’s biggest cricketing carnival – the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and just like every other year, people across the world are waiting for some fireworks with both bat and ball and some unforgettable moments on the field. And the expectation levels, would be even more this year, considering the fact that this year, it is the tenth anniversary of one of the most popular T20 tournament in the globe. And we at SportsCrunch aren’t any different as we have picked five things to watch out for in this year’s IPL.
1. The chemistry between the Indian and Australian players: Well, we are just fresh from India’s epic series victory over the Aussies. Not only for cricket but this series would be remembered for many other things, one of them being the bad blood between the players of these teams. And with the action shifting right to the IPL arena, many Indians and Australians would be seen as team members this time, for a change. For example, the Pune franchise, which would now be led by Steven Smith would also have charismatic Indian players like Ajinkya Rahane who was a part of the Indian test team that defeated the Aussies. Also, with MS Dhoni not being the captain of the side anymore, things are definitely going to get spiced up as Smith has already declared that he wouldn’t take any captaincy tips from the wicket-keeper batsman. It would really be interesting to see as to how they gel and perform as a unit. And with Aussie all-rounder Glenn Maxwell being named as the the new skipper of the Kings XI Punjab side, it would be interesting to see how Indian players like Wriddhiman Saha fare under him. Maxwell got his name enrolled in the India-Australia spats in the concluded Test series after he mocked Virat Kohli’s shoulder injury.
2. Performance of the Indian uncapped players: The IPL has always been a platform from where new Indian talents have emerged and have created quite an impact at the international stage. And this year too, eyeballs would firmly be set on the uncapped players after whom the different franchises spent good money and not opted to do all the spending on their foreign recruits. For example, Tamil Nadu pacer T Natarajan was bought for a whopping Rs 5 crore whereas seasoned foreign cricketers like Angelo Matthews could only fetch a buyer at Rs 2 crore, which was his base price.
Also, Ishank Jaggi bought by the KKR is the batsman from Jharkhand who scored a good amount of runs in the inter-zonal T20 competition some time back. Young Bengal batsman Sayan Ghosh was too roped in by the Kolkata franchise. Mohammad Siraj, a talented fast bowler who wishes to dismiss Indian skipper Virat Kohli some day, was picked by the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Other than these IPL debutants, there is another set of uncapped players like Surya Kumar Yadav (KKR vice-captain), Deepak Hooda and Bipul Sharma (SRH) and also Mayank Agarwal (RPS) and prodigious Sarfaraz Khan (RCB) amongst others who already have a lot of IPL experience but are yet to don the national colours. Consistent, exquisite performances by these uncapped players might be a turning point in their careers as they might get a national call-up soon with the Champions Trophy in sight.
3. Performances of the discarded Indian players: This IPL could turn out to be a very important one for the players who were once a part of the Indian national team. Players like Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohit Sharma and even Yusaf Pathan were once regular parts of the Indian line-up at least in the limited overs format, but have fallen out of the team owing to poor form. Also, Gujarat Lions’ wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik was a very important part of the Indian ODI team that had won the Champions Trophy four years back in England but he failed to retain his place in the national team. This IPL could be a very important one for him as he is on the back of a terrific Vijay Hazare Trophy that his team, Tamil Nadu won.
4. The inclusion of Afghanistan players for the first time in the tournament: If there’s a team that is on the rise at a very good pace in international cricket, it is Afghanistan. Despite facing domestic problems these players have got together to play some good cricket of late and have also shown a lot of heart and character. And the inclusion of these cricketers is set to add a different sort of sparkle to this year’s IPL. Both the Afghan players – Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan were bought by the defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad. If they perform well and replicate the same sort of success, they achieved with their national team, then this year’s IPL could be a huge platform for them to emerge as top players and could bring them up into the limelight.
5. A scam free competition: The IPL other than its glamour and beauty is also known to some for its varied controversies. Cricket lovers would like to forget the 2013 edition of the tournament when three Indian cricketers, Ajit Chandila, S Sreesanth and Ankit Chavan were arrested for their alleged involvement in match-fixing. This brought about a negative idea in everyone’s minds regarding the IPL and thus, many people lost their faith in the competition. Also, the owners of the teams- Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings were too found guilty of the same offense and their teams were banned for two years.
The scam involving the then IPL commissioner Lalit Modi in 2010 rendered a bad image to the tournament. This IPL is all the more special because the COA (Committee of Administrators) headed by Vinod Rai ever since its inception has done a lot to rid Indian cricket of corruption and has also put forward an assurance to “bring undiluted cricket to the country” through the IPL.
(Reporting by Souryaprkas Bhaduri, Shuvam Basu & Shivayan Roy)