It is beyond a doubt that the cricket economy has been served well by this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL). But the same cannot be said about cricket in India as the Indian cricketers participating in the just concluded cash-rich cricket tournament, have performed poorly, which is not a good sign for Team India, especially at a time when the World T-20 Cricket Championship is just around the corner. Barring Umran Malik, the young pace bowler from Jammu & Kashmir, who has impressed everyone with his speed and comebacks by players like Hardik Pandya or Yuzvendra Chahal, there is nothing noteworthy to say about other Indian cricketers, who till recently were almost a certainty in the national team. The performances of the star Indian cricketers were so poor that even master blaster Sachin Tendulkar could not include Virat Kohli nor Rohit Sharma in his IPL team. As the top two batters are out of form, no youngsters have shown enough promise to fill their places. Same is the case with bowling as Jasprit Bumrah or Umesh Yadav were not consistent enough to trouble the batters. All in all, based on IPL performances, India does not seem a great force in white ball cricket.
If the team for the world cup is to be selected only on the basis of present performances, apart from Lokesh Rahul and Hardik Pandya, no other batter can simply walk into the team, which means that plenty of batting slots are still available. Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson are poor imitations of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as wicket keeper-batter, who have failed to cement their places in the team even after receiving adequate opportunities. So the search for a wicketkeeper-batter is still on. Veteran Dinesh Karthik has been recalled in the national squad due to his superlative performance in IPL, but age is not his side. In the bowling department, the absence of a third seamer will definitely weaken the team. There are many contenders for the slot, but none are consistent enough to become the automatic choice.
Surely, the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) is to be blamed for the present situation. Cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar has rightly pointed out that quality cricketers are not arriving on the stage as BCCI is neglecting domestic cricket. In his opinion, most upcoming cricketers do not show much intent to play in Ranji or Duleep Trophy as they receive enough income simply by playing in the franchise-based cricket tournament for two months in a year. Gavaskar stressed that the BCCI should categorically ask the young cricketers first to sharpen their cricketing skills in the domestic circuit, before joining IPL. But BCCI cannot do so as it will snap the supply line for the franchises. As a result, even before blossoming as a cricketer, these upcoming cricketers will continue to be drafted in IPL teams, which in turn will create dearth of real talent in Indian domestic cricket. This is the price India will have to pay for ignoring red ball cricket.