In a recent article on www.espncricinfo.com, Ian Chappell, the former Australia captain, has credited the IPL for India having excellent bench strength. He is probably correct in his assessment. If not anything, IPL has certainly unearthed quite a few Indian fast bowlers. Hopefully, these bowlers will go onto represent the nation and perform creditably. Let me analyse Chappell’s comments on Ian Chappell and Indian bench strength.
Let me start with Indian pace bowling stock
Ian writes, “Nowadays India’s enormous depth in pace bowling is the envy of most countries. The development of star quick bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj has been instrumental in India’s improved overseas reputation. There is also a depth below that group, in the successful Ishant Sharma, the underrated Umesh Yadav, and handy back-up in Shardul Thakur.
India’s pace-bowling revolution shows no sign of abating, and the name on IPL watchers’ lips is currently that of the pacy Umran Malik.”
It is true that the IPL has given birth to Indian fast bowling talent. Umran Malik is a highly regarded pacer. Apart from him, there is Kuldeep Sen, Prasidh Krishna, Saini, Akash Deep etc are among the fastest bowlers in the 2022 IPL. Most of the franchise conducts fast bowling mela where anyone with the ability to hurl the ball at a great speed is given a chance to showcase their talent. This is purely down to their willingness to harness the potential in the country. Ofcourse, there is also a hint of selfishness in that if they are satisfied with a bowler, he is offered a contract rightaway and they ensure that that cricketer plays for the franchise. This also gives the particular cricketer financial security and he is free to concentrate on his game.
The case of Bumrah and Kumar
A Bumrah would have definitely played for India but his debut may have been delayed if not for his exploits with Mumbai Indians. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was a decent new-ball bowler when he made his debut. Once the ball gets old, Kumar lost his ability and potency. He was still a restrictive bowler but was unable to pick up wickets. IPL rejuvenated Kumar and now he is capable of bowling magnificent yorkers towards the end of the innings. He has become much more confident and is a mainstay in the Indian bowling attack in white-ball cricket.
Indian batting
The Indian batting is now blessed with a lot of depth. Surya, Shreyas, Ishan, Venkatesh and a few others are virtually breaking the door. They are demanding to be included in the playing eleven where, unfortunately, the slots are open only for 5. Kohli and Rohit themselves would have benefitted a lot in their formative years by playing in the highly competitive IPL. Playing against the likes of Steyn, Warne during their initial years enabled them to withstand the pressures of high quality bowling.
The captaincy
Chappell further writes that, thoughtful captaincy isn’t easy to uncover, but India seem to be doing a good job in this regard too, thanks again to the extremely competitive IPL.”
This is where I have to differ. I do not think that the IPL played any part in uncovering good captain candidates. Sure, Rohit Sharma who captained Mumbai Indians for a longtime has now become the Indian captain. However, it was expected as it was the natural progression. Once Rohit establishes himself in the test team and the time has come for Kohli to relinquish the captaincy, Rohit is the natural successor. Sure, other Indians are also captaining various teams. We have seen Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Karthik do not have the skills. Rahul despite the fact that he failed to win a single IPL with Punjab was still made the captain of Lucknow. This is one point that I will not agree with Ian. I firmly believe that a captain or a leader is born and cannot be made.
Elsewhere, Laxman takes over for a shortwhile
Laxman will takeover from Dravid during the Indian tour of Ireland. Dravid will be travelling to England to prepare for the final test which will decide whether India wins the series. There are likely to be 2 separate teams for the tours just like last year when Shikhar Dhawan led a squad to Sri Lanka and Kohli led another team in England.
Too short a tour
The point here is, why only 2 T20s? Ideally, it must have been a set of 8 games with 5 ODIs and 3 T20s. Agreed, that it will be India’s second strongest squad and Ireland may have an issue with that but even that team is likely to be stronger than Ireland’s squad. Moreover, Irish Cricket must be thrilled that India will be playing that many games because it does not really matter which team it is that India fields or the opponent, we Indians will watch an Indian team any Indian team to support them. Hence, there is no basis for them to feel insulted.
Another point is that with Ireland being so close to England, incase of an injury to the team in England, someone from here can be easily flown to England on short notice. The added advantage is that that player would have already acclimatised himself and will be ready.
As I had written earlier, BCCI has found a genuine model. With the money at their disposal, they can easily afford to maintain a couple of teams. This will give a lot of exposure to a lot of players. The players will also feel satisfied that they were able to play for the nation. A second team will also help the nation to maintain quality at all times. Will the BCCI realise this?
Conclusion to Ian Chappell and Indian bench strength
It is true that the IPL has helped Indian cricket but to credit IPL for everything is good will not correct. There are also some cons because of the IPL and that is perhaps not noticed. Probably I will write one article about the cons of IPL.
Other topics about BCCI