League of Champions

Scintillating displays from young talents have raised the bar, writes Sanjib Guha

The Indian Cricket League (ICL) that aimed at building a talent bank for international cricket has gone on to better expectations.

A close look at the Season II makes it evident that the League has really picked up, not merely because this time there are more spectators but for the fact that many youngsters have proved their class in the group stage.

According to Executive Board member and former India stumper Kiran More, the ICL has taken a giant step in the latest edition.

“This time everything has improved. We have a good stadium like Sardar Patel, addition of a team like Dhaka Warriors and also the performance of Indian youngsters,” More told DNA.

 “Last time, our youngsters played second fiddle to foreign recruits but this time they came out stronger and that has raised the standard,” More added.

Alok Kapali from the newly added team, Dhaka Warriors, exploded on to the scene and doubled the enthusiasm by posting ICL’s maiden century on debut, and that too in 60 balls.

And not only Kapali, if the entire game is taken into account, the quality of cricket has been getting better every day. Kapali broke Hasan Raza’s record of unbeaten 98 which he made in the inaugural edition.

Later on, some lusty hitting by Ian Harvey and Ganapathy Vignesh saw Chennai Superstars wrapping up the fastest half-century partnership in the Twenty20 format. The duo raced to the mark in 17 balls, quite creditable by any standards.

The arrival of few new foreign players such as Kapali, Hamish Marshall have inspired Indian youngsters like Rajagopal Sathish, Ranjit Khirid, Ganapathy Vignesh, Tejinder Pal Singh and others to improve by leaps and bounds.

Vignesh, who is the highest run-getter in this format so far with 753 runs (both editions), can walk into any Twenty20 side while Syed Abbas Ali, Abhinav Bali, Sarabjit Singh, Dheeraj Jadhav, Ali Murtaza, Sathish and Khirid are also shaping up well.

In fact, stars like Ian Harvey, Craig McMillan, Lance Klusener or Marvan Atapattu have done enough to inspire these young guns. For the record, 11 Indian players have won the MoM awards so far in 24 matches in the ICL 20s Indian Championship.

If two top foreign stars are Kapali and Marshall, then India’s answer to them are Sathish and Murtaza. Both these youngsters have done a commendable job for their teams. Sathish has amassed 545 runs in 26 matches while Murtaza, while rolling his arms, bagged 35 victims till date.

Last but not the least, the strategising has become more important.

“In the last edition, we just went and played the matches as we were new to the format, but now we know each and every player and so strategies are very important,” a senior pro told DNA on Friday.

“Now we know the strengths and weaknesses of each team and so we strategise thoroughly,” he added.

Notwithstanding the blanket ban imposed by the BCCI and cohorts, the ICL has matured into an unparallel platform for young talents.

It’s to be noted, too, that Sri Lanka Cricket has allowed its players involved with the ICL to take part in domestic cricket and the Pakistan Cricket Board has also pledged its support.