only your second season in the unforgiving and, often, unrewarding world of domestic cricket. At 20 for two, your team is in a spot of bother. You are up against the might of Mumbai in its backyard. You have to deal with the wiliness of Zaheer Khan, the accuracy of Dhawal Kulkarni and the guile of Pravin Tambe. What do you do?
When Baroda all-rounder Hardik Pandya was confronted with this question at the Wankhede Stadium on March 30, 2014, his riposte was emphatic to say the least. His astonishing counter-attack — 82 off 57 balls — left the domestic giant and its band of supporters stunned to the core on that floodlit evening. Somewhere in the stands, Mumbai Indians coach John Wright knew that the talent scout in him had witnessed something special.
Most of us know of Pandya thanks to his exploits in you know what. But the fact is that the 22-year-old came of age in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the BCCI-run inter-state T20 tournament, two years ago. Soon, he will be on the plane to Australia!
As the 10th edition of the tournament — it was called the Inter-State T20 Championship from 2006-07 to 2008-09 — gets under way in Nagpur, Vadodara, Cuttack and Kochi on Saturday, the question on many a lip is — how relevant is this poor, malnourished and unglamorous cousin of the Indian Premier League?
Relevant
Haryana coach and former National selector Surendra Bhave offers some perspective. “It is extremely relevant. There isn’t a shadow of a doubt. The format is exciting because it’s not an inter-zone tournament any longer. Yes, the quality of cricket you see in the IPL is two or three notches higher, but a good performance here can get you there,” says the 49-year-old.
“The IPL is a pointer to the talent. It’s not the be all and end all (of Indian cricket). As a selector, I watched the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with a lot of interest,” adds the Maharashtra stalwart.Bhave’s observations are significant, especially because the ensuing six months are garlanded with T20 tournaments starting with a three-match series in Australia, a three-match rubber against Sri Lanka at home, the Asia Cup and the Big Daddy of them all, the ICC World T20, followed by India’s summer pastime, the IPL.
Even Bengal coach Sairaj Bahutule endorses Bhave’s views. “The boys are upbeat. This is a very important tournament to portray their skills. The selectors are watching; the IPL franchises are watching. It’s a very competitive tournament,” says the yesteryear leg-spinner.
Two days ago, the IPL franchises released a batch of cricketers and the supposed expendables included Yuvraj Singh and Ishant Sharma. You wear the India badge on the chest but might not be considered good enough to be retained by your franchise. How times have changed!
What catches the support staff of the franchises these days are fresh faces, less in star value, but capable of a 15-ball 40. In a tournament like this, they find a fertile field to identify such talents. Not to forget that some IPL discards like Dinesh Karthik will be itching to restore themselves to the auction pool and remind they are worthy of hire.
And with the countdown to the World T20 already begun and announcement of the 30 probables awaited, there is a lot of premium attached to the tournament this year
