Where are the Players?

The hammers will be out for yet another bidding of players in 2011 to play in IPL Teams. Ten Teams in all. Each team is likely to have around 20 players. Since only 4 International Players are allowed to play in a game, each time might go for 6-8 International Players. The break down is likely to be 60-80 International Players and 120-140 Indian Players.

The performance of the Indian Players is the key to success for any IPL franchisee. Looking at the last 2 years of IPL and the on-going one, only a few Indian Players have done well and the rest were basically acting like a “also-ran” to fill the playing eleven.

Of the 8 existing teams, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai are well placed in terms of performance by Indian Players. Chennai has Indian assets like Dhoni, Raina, Vijay, Ashwin, Jakati, Parthiv Patel and Badrinath. Delhi has Sehwag, Gambhir, Karthik, Mishra, Nehra and Sangwan. Mumbai has Tendulkar, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Tiwari, Rayudu, Dhawan and Satish. Though most of them have not been consistent, they have shown enough glimpse of what they are capable of doing.

The rest of the IPL Teams have fewer names in each, who have proved their credentials in IPL. Any cricket playing nation would be extremely happy to have a strong 16 member national side backed with a good bench strength of 10-15 players. IPL seems to be changing that for India. The IPL Franchisees need to identify and nurture 120-140 Indian Players for their sides. If each one manages to unearth 4-5 players including current Indian Stars, the total of quality players for India will shoot up to 40-50. That would surely be a great luxury for Indian Cricket at the International stage.

Right now finding 120-140 quality cricketers, suitable for the T20 format is going to be a challenge. The IPL Franchisees have so far gone for Ranji Players from different states and Under-19 cricketers. The format of Ranji is different and hence most of them have not been able to express their game properly in this format of the game. The BCCI’s decision to give amnesty to ICL players has helped the IPL in getting a few good cricketers from the banned ICL outfit.

The good part of the IPL is the exposure these fringe players get. The bad part is also the exposure these players get. A good Ranji Player might be performing well for his state in the Ranji Trophy but his failure to replicate the performance in IPL will stand out in front of the Public and the Selectors, thereby making it difficult to progress in his career. Saurav Ganguly’s recent outburst about his team players and his comment about their careers is an evidence to prove that every one including former Indian Captain feels that IPL is the only stage to perform to get a call for national duty.

The Franchisees would be keen to shun some of the non-performing Indian players and get a suitable replacement for them in 2011. But, the big question still remains. Where are the Players?