BENGALURU: Red-ball specialists endure unidimensional careers, typically even taking the Indian Premier League path to make their means again to the Indian workforce. A basic case is 35-year-old Ajinkya Rahane, who was recalled after greater than a year-and-half later, his Ranji scores and IPL exploits serving to his trigger.
On the opposite hand, the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari and Abhimanyu Easwaran proceed to toil on the home circuit or join county stints.
The Duleep Trophy affords a platform for such gamers and younger weapons to be on the radar of the nationwide selectors.
Starting Wednesday, when the last-four contests get underway, the main focus can be on batters, led by West Zone’s Cheteshwar Pujara. While defending champions West Zone tackle Central Zone, hosts and final version’s runners-up South will sq. off towards North Zone.
Apart from Pujara, the West line-up consists of Suryakumar Yadav, Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan, every desirous to make a daring assertion with the bat.
South will begin favourites in what guarantees to be a present of batting may in overcast Bengaluru. The workforce, which performs on the M Chinnaswamy stadium, too has many nationwide workforce aspirants with Sai Sudarshan, N Jagadeesan and a younger Thilak Verma becoming a member of skipper Vihari, Washington Sundar and Mayank Agarwal.
For gamers like Vihari and Agarwal, who’re at a crossroads of their careers, the event assumes better significance.
Vihari stated, “It’s tough to make a comeback once you are dropped or left out of the Indian team. It affects your mindset. I went through that last season. If anyone is saying that I’m motivated to come back, they may be. But it took a lot of time for me to understand why I was dropped and then motivate myself to make a comeback. Now, I’m in a good space, where I just want to get some runs and leave the rest to the selectors or whoever else is taking the call.”
The Hyderabadi, who’s tipped to maneuver to Madhya Pradesh for the upcoming season, remains to be trying to find solutions after being ignored by the nationwide selectors for a 12 months. “Even now I’m not sure why I was dropped because whenever I got a chance, I thought I did well. Maybe my best was not good enough for the Indian team. I’ll try to keep getting better.”
He drew inspiration with Rahane’s comeback at 35.
“Hope is always there. You will want to come back until you retire. I’m 29, I still have it in me. You’ve seen Ajinkya Rahane make a comeback at 35. I feel I still have a lot to contribute to the Indian side, especially in Test cricket,” acknowledged Vihari.
“But I don’t have an opportunity to make an impact at the IPL, so I only have the domestic season and have to grind it out.” The disappointment in Vihari’s voice is unmistakable.
“People have branded me a Test player, but it is unfair. In the IPL, I did well when I was 19 and 20. Although I’ve grown as a white-ball player, I haven’t got many opportunities. Hopefully I can make a comeback in the IPL because many players are getting red ball opportunities through good performances in the IPL. Going forward I want to play all formats,” reasoned Vihari.
On the opposite hand, the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari and Abhimanyu Easwaran proceed to toil on the home circuit or join county stints.
The Duleep Trophy affords a platform for such gamers and younger weapons to be on the radar of the nationwide selectors.
Starting Wednesday, when the last-four contests get underway, the main focus can be on batters, led by West Zone’s Cheteshwar Pujara. While defending champions West Zone tackle Central Zone, hosts and final version’s runners-up South will sq. off towards North Zone.
Apart from Pujara, the West line-up consists of Suryakumar Yadav, Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan, every desirous to make a daring assertion with the bat.
South will begin favourites in what guarantees to be a present of batting may in overcast Bengaluru. The workforce, which performs on the M Chinnaswamy stadium, too has many nationwide workforce aspirants with Sai Sudarshan, N Jagadeesan and a younger Thilak Verma becoming a member of skipper Vihari, Washington Sundar and Mayank Agarwal.
For gamers like Vihari and Agarwal, who’re at a crossroads of their careers, the event assumes better significance.
Vihari stated, “It’s tough to make a comeback once you are dropped or left out of the Indian team. It affects your mindset. I went through that last season. If anyone is saying that I’m motivated to come back, they may be. But it took a lot of time for me to understand why I was dropped and then motivate myself to make a comeback. Now, I’m in a good space, where I just want to get some runs and leave the rest to the selectors or whoever else is taking the call.”
The Hyderabadi, who’s tipped to maneuver to Madhya Pradesh for the upcoming season, remains to be trying to find solutions after being ignored by the nationwide selectors for a 12 months. “Even now I’m not sure why I was dropped because whenever I got a chance, I thought I did well. Maybe my best was not good enough for the Indian team. I’ll try to keep getting better.”
He drew inspiration with Rahane’s comeback at 35.
“Hope is always there. You will want to come back until you retire. I’m 29, I still have it in me. You’ve seen Ajinkya Rahane make a comeback at 35. I feel I still have a lot to contribute to the Indian side, especially in Test cricket,” acknowledged Vihari.
“But I don’t have an opportunity to make an impact at the IPL, so I only have the domestic season and have to grind it out.” The disappointment in Vihari’s voice is unmistakable.
“People have branded me a Test player, but it is unfair. In the IPL, I did well when I was 19 and 20. Although I’ve grown as a white-ball player, I haven’t got many opportunities. Hopefully I can make a comeback in the IPL because many players are getting red ball opportunities through good performances in the IPL. Going forward I want to play all formats,” reasoned Vihari.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com