HIDDEN TALENT!

By Dr. V.V. Giri

Yes, IPL is a great success, especially for the spectators. This colorful T20 tournament is further decorated with cheer leaders, band music, fireworks, unique strategic time outs and the spicy super overs.

More importantly, the best thing  that happened through IPL was the great exposure provided  to the young Indian talents. Over the years, IPL brought out many young cricketers and they should be grateful to IPL for the recognition they received. Ashwin, Naman Ojah, Manoj Tiwary, T. Suman, Bisla to name a few.

It is now one week completed with IPL 4. Already we have seen some surprises in team’s performances. The spectators have the real dilemma. Except for a few teams, most teams are looking different. There is no ‘son of the soil’ attachment this time.

Sachin captains the Mumbai team and Sehwag is for Delhi. That’s all. Laxman who played for Hyderabad is now playing for Kochi, Dravid for Rajastan, Gambir for Kolkatta and to the shock of every one, no Dada this time. The fans are very confused, whom to support.

Nobody could understand the team composition and the ideas of the Franchises. Some owners have messed up with team composition and spoiled their chances. Only Chennai and Mumbai retained the maximum of four players and have built the team around them. These two teams look solid.

The worst affected are the Delhi side. They have only Sehwag and Warner from last three years. They lost Vettori, deVilliers, Dilshan, Collingwood, Nannes, Karthik, and many lively cricketers. Their replacements were not that impressive.

The IPL 4 has already unearthed some exciting talents. The best among them all is Paul Valthaty.  The stunning century he scored against the mighty CSK shocked every IPL follower. Of course, Paul is not new to high level cricket.  We have heard about him since 2001.

Valthaty was selected way back in 2001 for India under19. He couldn’t perform due to an eye injury he sustained.  He is a product of Dilip Vengsarkar academy in Mumbai. Somehow Mumbai Ranji team evaded him right from the beginning.

What is special about this 27 year old cricketer?  His batting is something worth discussing. His biggest plus point is the extra time he has to play his shots. My observation of this batsman’s success is his ‘body balance’. His height is just perfect for his technique.

He has very little initial shuffling which is okay with limited overs games. The back lift is gorgeous, just perfect for a full drive as well as for a defensive gliding.  He is side on all the time and takes the ball under his eyes. The main reason for his extra time is, he has a ‘still head’ while receiving the ball and is able to watch the ball carefully and predict its line and length much earlier.

Now comes his negatives points. His shot selection is not very good and, in my opinion, that was the reason for this lad unable to go higher. He tries to play shots from the beginning and gets in to trouble soon.

Even for a great batsman like Tendulkar, initially the ball looks like a marble and when he spends some time, it gets bigger to the original size and he sights it like a foot-ball when he is well set.

True, in T20 format and limited over games you can’t spend too much time to sight the ball well and you have to go after it from the beginning. But you must learn to rotate the strike with ones and twos initially before you start the assault. Some batsmen like Gilchrist, Hayden and Jayasurya use the crease and make some predetermined movements to have a go from the beginning.

Valthaty must learn to do that and try to be consistent. His hand /eye coordination is excellent like our Sehwag and surely once his confidence level increases, he will be a great force to recon with. He has terrific hidden talent and this IPL 4 is the place for him to go very high in his cricketing career.

I like his bowling too. He bowls a gentle medium pace and he has many shrewd variations in his armoury. His main weapon is, his ability to bowl the split finger slower one which is certainly a wicket taking delivery.

I am also impressed with Monish Mishra. He too can really go after the bowling. He hasn’t had big scores to start with as he comes much lower in the batting order. I am sure he will get to go up the order and produce some nice knocks.

It is just a week since IPL4 has started. I am sure by the end, this tournament will unearth many ‘hidden talents’.