 |
| Image Design: Bala Kumar |
Hello Friends,
The biggest cricketing festival on planet, Indian Premier League (IPL) is here with its yet another entertaining edition. This time even more bigger and competitive. Having two new teams to challenge the existing ones, crowd filled stadiums, more number of matches, exciting contests have added a different flavor to an already popular recipe. Heartening to see the richest cricket league in the world is back with its usual colors in homeground this time surpassing two difficult years due to Covid restrictions. So what's more exciting this time around?? Two new franchises for sure. New team combinations after the mega auction have taken some time to settle down. But again these are all professionals who participate in franchisee leagues across the globe. So they know how to get the best out of themselves & their fellow teammates in different environments.
All the teams have played half the quota of their allotted matches this season. Exciting part is both the new teams are giving a tough fight to all the existing ones. Infact both of them sitting in the top half of the points table hold a very good chance to qualify for the knockout stages. On the other hand the most surprising part has been to see both the giants of the league Chennai Super Kings & Mumbai Indians languishing at the bottom. It is fair to say that for all the teams half the battle has been won on the auction table. Prime examples of the same are teams like Rajasthan Royals & newbie Lucknow Super Giants who were extremely smart to pick the best possible teams for themselves whereas a veteran like Mumbai Indians could definitely have done better during the auction. Like the previous editions this edition is no different in showcasing amazing young talents. Players like Umran Malik, Abhishek Sharma, Ayush Badoni, Jitesh Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma are already surprising the world with the extraordinary skills they possess.
At the same time this edition is also seeing remarkable comebacks from some of the Indian stalwarts. Form of players like Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Dinesh Karthik, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya has been a real boost for their respective franchises. At the same time a noteworthy performance in the league would definitely bring these players in the reckoning for a selection for the World T20 competition later this year. First half of the league has not seen its veterans setting the stage on fire. Likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Keiron Pollard are yet to show their best in this edition of the league. This year has also marked the debut for some of the captains be it for their existing franchise or a new one. Players like Ravindra Jadeja & Mayank Agarwal got the opportunity to lead their existing franchises after being retained before the mega auction, whereas Shreyas Iyer, Faf du Plessis, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya were handed over the opportunity to lead by their new employers. Success of the young Indian captains can be assessed at the end of the tournament but as of now all of them looked really aggressive and eager to learn. Let's now have a quick look at the top leadership trends.
Tale of the comeback kings
15th edition of the toughest T20 league has already seen some of the players utilizing this platform to stage a remarkable comeback. Likes of Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik are really presenting a strong case for their selection in the national side by producing some extraordinary performances. Most of them were either out of form or struggling with injuries or not getting enough opportunities in the recent times. Then what's the secret of their turnaround this season?? There is no secret, it's just their hard work and perseverance that is paying off. Sometimes even change of environment can also affect performance both positively or negatively. Someone like Kuldeep Yadav who was not getting enough opportunities in his previous franchisee or even in the national set up has blossomed in the supportive environment of Delhi Capitals franchisee. Someone like Dinesh Karthik who at the fag end of his career still dreaming for a comeback in national colors to get his country to the glory of winning a world title or an injury-prone Hardik Pandya who is cherishing his new role as a leader in a new team are the real inspirations who refuse to give up. Story of Chahal is even more inspiring who is proving his worth big time after being dropped from the World cup squad last year. Sportsmen are always a big source of inspiration. These guys are really inspiring many with instances of their determination & never give up attitude. Hope by the end of the tournament few more such inspiring stories emerge.
Newbies on the big stage
Building a new team from the scratch and getting them perform from the word go is a tough ask anytime be it in business or sports. Getting that job done to the perfection requires some extremely calm & tactically sound brains with great leadership attributes. In a challenging tournament like this where you are expected to perform at your best every time you come to the ground can be a daunting task. Lot of credit should go to the owners & team management of both the newly formed teams Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants for doing most of the things perfectly so far to build a strong team. First of all they were extremely smart to build their core team in terms of coaching staff, captain & key players. Must say if it was a smart move from Lucknow franchise to avail the services of Rahul as captain who is already holding leadership position in national team, appointing Hardik Pandya as the leader of the pack for Gujarat Titans was a brave move considering he doesn't possess much of a leadership experience previously & is making a comeback from an injury prone phase. But as we know great leaders are born out of challenging situations, Hardik has justified the faith kept on him so far. Both the teams have some of the great cricketing brains in their coaching staff including Gautam Gambhir, Andy Flower, Ashish Nehra, Gary Kirsten to name a few. Formula of aggressive captains coupled with strategic cricketing brains is doing wonders for both of them in their very first appearance. As they have crossed the hurdle of creating a great team & environment it will be interesting to see how they continue their consistent performances in the challenging second half of the league.
Stay tuned for the updates from the next phases of the toughest T20 league.
){kind=link}
Social Media Connect