Stars stutter, young guns keep local flavour alive

Much of the IPL fanfare every year revolves around the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni. But none of these top stars bound for the ICC Champions Trophy in England feature among the top 20 run-getters in this Indian Premier League (IPL). Barring Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina, who is a standby in the squad, all the senior batsmen have performed below expectations.

However, what probably has kept the Indian element alive with the bat is the performance of the youngsters like Sanju Samson, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer. While they haven’t racked up big aggregates, their knocks are promising.

Former India opener and coach Anshuman Gaekwad says, “The IPL has done two good things. One, it has given opportunity to seniors to keep going. Secondly, it has allowed junior players to come to the party and become household names. It has helped their mental approach towards a game – they are confident and focused.”

The depleted Delhi Daredevils, who are out of contention and lie sixth in the points table, would have been in a worse position had it not been for some of these youngsters. Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson took them home against Gujarat Lions at the Ferozeshah Kotla while Shreyas Iyer single-handedly crushed Gujarat Lions at Kanpur on Wednesday.

IPL’S YOUNG BRIGADE

“Youngsters are doing what they are supposed to do,” says Hemant Dua, CEO of Delhi Daredevils.

Nitish Rana played some blinders for Mumbai Indians in the first half of IPL 2017, while Rahul Tripathi’s blistering 93 single-handedly took Rising Pune Supergiant home against Kolkata Knight Riders. The knocks however have been far and few between.

“I am glad the selectors didn’t get influenced by a couple of T20 knocks, even though there was talk about it. But it won’t be wrong to say they have burst into contention. It is good for Indian cricket,” Gaekwad added.