MUMBAI, 6 June 2008 — The Indian Premier League, unique and as exciting as it was for a cricket tournament, encapsulating all the action in just 40 overs a match, eventually brought more gains in its wake than had ever been anticipated.
Consider the blessings, not the least of these were the opportunities the tournament provided to young players, some of whom were not even heard of in domestic cricket.
Swapnil Asnodkar, Sreevats Goswani, Niraj Patel, Yogesh Takkawale, Manpreet Gony and Ravindra Jadeja, were just so many names, who, to start with, just made up the numbers. But, as the tournament moved from one venue to another, these became household names.
The IPL team format had stipulated that each of the eight teams must include at least four under-19 players from the Indian circuit. Thus 32 spots were created for youngsters. Though not all of them got the chance to play, some of those who were selected grabbed the opportunity by the forelock. The most outstanding of these was young wicket-keeper-batsman Sreevats Goswami, who was named the best under-19 player of the tournament.
The Twenty20 format is tailor-made for the big-hitters and the one young player who stole the thunder from the more accomplished batsmen of the lot was Asnodkar. A native of Goa, a land which has given more international footballers to India, the dashing Asnodkar went for the bowlers, unmindful of their high reputation and dispatched them to all corners of the field, more often over the boundary-line. For a batsman who has hardly any first-class cricket experience , he showed courage that would have done either a Dhoni or a Yuvraj proud.
Shane Warne, whose charismatic leadership helped Rajasthan Royals win the title, had a lot of praise for youngsters, particularly Asnodkar, for whom he had a special personal gift at the end of the tournament.
The most outstanding batsman of the IPL was another young player, who, however, was from Australia. A late entrant to the tournament, left-handed Shaun Marsh showed remarkable consistency and ended up the top-scorer. He had made a tremendous contribution in his team, Punjab, making the final.
The runaway success of Shaun, the son of former Australian opener Geoff Marsh, has put the youngster in the running for a place in the Australian ODI team, currently on the tour of the West Indies.
All told, IPL not only showcased top-class, entertaining cricket, but also some outstanding hidden talent.
