The Indian Premier League has been unearthing talented cricketers in each edition.
It might be the shortest format of the game but talent just needs a platform and everyone from Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Manish Pandey to Paul Valthaty have grabbed the opportunity to showcase what they possess.
It's to the credit of these cricketers that they broke the shackles of selection bias and showed to the world that one can't suppress talent for a long time.
The assessment of talent is based on many factors but one common factor is the ability to tackle a situation which will increase the percentage of winning matches.
And for that to happen, a player has to back his strengths. It's the mental make-up of a player that stands out when dealing with crisis.
Valthaty exhibited it. More than anyone else it is the average Mumbaikar who is surprised to see Valthaty making international bowlers look mediocre.
He always had it in him until a ball during the under-19 World Cup match in 2002 in New Zealand hit his right eyelid and pierced a small hole thereby disturbing his vision. It was a serious injury and he underwent an operation in New Zealand.
Encouraging words
Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, who suffered an eye injury, says: “I suspect it's psychological with young Paul but a few more good knocks will boost his confidence. There were several moments when I was about to give up the game because for no apparent reason I was getting out. All I can say is nobody with (old) eye injury could have batted the way Paul did.”
The boy who had from the age of 11 played for Vengsarkar's academy and from age of 16 played only for Vijay Merchant's 100-year-old Fort Vijay Club, couldn't play for two vital years till 22 because he couldn't sight the ball properly. It was a traumatic experience but his teammates in both the places backed him all the time. And at no stage did Valthaty lose hope.
Here is a case of a batsman with immense talent not getting recognition from the State selectors. When one gives undue importance to performance at the cost of talent, good players suffer. If performance is the only criteria at the State level, surely statisticians could select the team instead of experienced selectors.
Valthaty has thoroughly exposed the selection process in the country. Despite doing well in the West Zone T20 league tournament this season (he was the second highest scorer for Mumbai) he wasn't picked for the knockout in the squad of 15! And within a couple of months he is impressive with both bat and ball.
It seems that most of the IPL coaches missed what the Kings XI Punjab coach, Michael Bevan, saw. The point is he made an effort to assess the boy's talent during trials. Other coaches either chose to write him off as history or didn't want to watch as they had made up their minds after going through his scores.
Valthaty says his captain Gilchrist keeps reminding him to back his strengths, something which Indian coaches or captains don't do. ‘Perform or go home' is the Indian mantra. Cricket is nothing but confidence and in Valthaty's case, it seems, he has been given the licence by Gilchrist and Bevan to enjoy the game.
At the moment it's the Influential People's League with some players being just about average. It would serve Indian cricket better if this gets converted into Impressive Players' League.
