EVEN as Indian cricket’s big five run the last lap of their great careers, one wondered where the next big temperament players were likely to emerge from. In fact two of the big five – Saurav Ganguly and Anil Kumble – have already retired and the surviving trinity may well be playing its last year of competitive international cricket. So, just when one thought that the gene pool was bare, what the IPL has done is given Indian cricket a brand new talent pool of young, bright, effervescent cricketers. A contracting gene pool has become an enlarged reservoir of exciting talent. Ironically, many of the young stars discovered in India last year have got a heaven sent opportunity to test their skill sets in alien conditions on bouncy tracks offering seam and sideways movement. A ring of fire, one would say.
It is in many ways a blessing in disguise. An opportunity for talent scouts to look for cricketers with promise. Cricketers who can well be the mainstay of the next Indian team. Gautam Gambhir’s outstanding form over the last year or so has proved that he has the hunger to become Indian cricket’s next batting bulwark. Virender Sehwag is still young and he along with Gambhir should be the fulcrum around which India’s next generation of batsmen will revolve. When Sunil Gavaskar in the best of Bombay batsmanship tradition finally ended his Test career on a high with a vintage 97 on a Bunsen at Bangalore against Pakistan’s spin twins – Tauseef Ahmed and Iqbal Qasim – Sanjay Manjrekar was hailed as the next big thing from Bombay.
Bombay’s fabled maidans had run a relay race, passing the baton from one to another – Vijay Merchant and Russi Mody to Polly Umrigar to Vijay Manjrekar, Ajit Wadekar and Dilip Sardesai to Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar. Strangely in the very first test after Gavaskar’s retirement against Pakistan, Manjrekar was drafted into the side against the West Indies. The umbilical cord was intact. The assembly line of great batsmen rolling out with regularity. Manjrekar was laid low by a Winston Benjamin but he picked up the pieces very quickly and for a season or two became the first among equals. The Bombay tradition appeared to be in good solid hands.
On the tour of Pakistan, a callow youth called Sachin Tendulkar joined Manjrekar. While Manjrekar scored heavily, the 16 year old little big fella Tendulkar showed why he was rated so highly at such a tender age. He did not flinch, not when Waqar Younis hit him on the nose with a bouncer. Nor did he flinch when Abdul Qadir taunted him in a side game. Both were dealt body blows with the bat. Waqar dispatched to the boundary after his nose was cleaned up and Qadir over the boundary repeatedly as twinkle toes gave an exhibition of his rising reputation. Manjrekar remained the number one young batsman at this time, displaying technical perfectitude. But soon, there were as many as four young guns from Bombay – Manjrekar, Tendulkar, Pravin Amre and Vinod Kambli. All of them faded away one by one till only Tendulkar remained. Another young batter Amol Mazumdar came on to the scene, but sadly he never ever got a chance to play for India.
The conveyor belt had finally run dry. The T20 World Cup, the tri series in Australia and of course IPL season 1 and 2 have confirmed that Rohit Sharma has the talent to step into these shoes. The question is how far can he go. Manjrekar became a victim of his own technical correctness. Kambli couldn’t handle fame and fortune, Amre just vaporized into thin air. They were good players. But the game is only part of the process, the mental toughness and equilibrium is equally important. Are you level headed? Can you stay the course? India has never had an Imran Khan type of leader. A man larger than life, with a persona and stature which naturally commanded respect. Saurav Ganguly showed that he had the toughness, but he was never a talent scout. Imran spotted Waqar Younis while Javed Miandad found Wasim Akram at an annual cricket camp. Akram in turn found Sohail Tanvir at a fast bowlers camp. That is how the fast bowling tradition has carried on in Pakistan.
With school and club cricket more or less dying, Bombay now Mumbai has not been able to find a single batsman of note in the last several years. But what the IPL is doing is that it is throwing up young talent. Kamran Khan a woodcutter’s son from Azamgarh was discovered by Rajasthan Royals coach Darren Berry in a local Mumbai league and given a contract of $ 23,000. Now he is being groomed by Shane Warne personally. And the 18 year old Khan is justifying the coach and captain’s faith in season 2. Kamran Khan may well be in the running for a place in the T20 World Cup which follows the IPL. He has shown pace, swing and composure while bowling at the death. In many ways, the Indian selectors have their work cut out for they have 37 days of live action to choose the Indian side for the shortest format of the game. Virat Kohli, Piyush Chawla, Shikar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Kamran Khan, Pragyan Ojha, RP Singh, L Balaji and many others are performing well.
And see what a Zaheer Khan has done for Indian pace bowling. Now we have only left arm seamers coming through. RP Singh who has played a key role in victories in England and Australia and now the young Kamran Khan as the latest explosive talent. What is worrisome is the batting cupboard. Last year S Badrinath batted well to announce his arrival. Okay, so we have a settled opening pair in Gambhir and Sehwag and both players are ubiquitous in all three forms of the game. But what about beyond these two? Yuvraj Singh is still a nervous starter despite innumerable opportunities. So, who will bat at 3, 4 and 5 when the big three decide to retire? Big question mark remains. In any case, all three have given up T20 international cricket, Dravid and Laxman are out of the one day side as well, which leaves only Test cricket. The nation is goading Tendulkar to play on till the 2011 World Cup, but that is two years away.
India’s next international engagement after the T20 World Cup is four one day internationals in the West Indies. The IPL should provide the nucleus of both the T20 and West Indies touring squads. This problem of plenty in the bowling department and lack of proper resources on the batting side is something that we need to worry about actively. We need to start grooming the Rohit Sharmas, Virat Kohlis, Shikar Dhawans, S Badrinaths among others so that they can step up to the plate when it is required. Maybe the balance of power has shifted in Indian cricket – bowling options are rich while batters are unavailable. There is a big Vacancy sign hanging outside the Indian dressing room. Wanted – Batsmen to replace the tried and tested trinity. Will the rest of this IPL provide some clues? Since it is doing such a fine job if unearthing young bowlers, we are awaiting the arrival of a handful of young guns. Dravid and Ganguly made their Test debuts together. Laxman followed, but then got bogged down as an opener and finally rediscovered himself in his original avatar of a middle order batter.
We are fortunate that Viru and Gambhir will be around for many years. This way there will be continuity, but positions 3, 4, 5 and 6 are up for grabs. I am not convinced that Yuvraj Singh has what it takes to become a Test batsman. I may be proved wrong. My contention is that one better constitute a search committee for batters with flair and chutzpah to play Test cricket. We forget that Dilip Vengsarkar continued for many years after Gavaskar’s retirement. He found able allies in Mohd Azharuddin, Navjot Sidhu and then Tendulkar. Tendulkar found comrades in arms in the shape and form of Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly. If Viru and Gambhir are to be the new pivots, then who will play the support roles? Batsmen with consistency and temperament. Batsmen who can step into the large sized shoes of the Fab Four.
