Akshar Patel: A success story from IPL 2014

Akshar Patel celebrates after taking a wicket

Alongside the glitz and the glamour that IPL has to bid, it is the ultimate stage for the young Indian cricketers to get ahead and seize the opportunity, handing them a chance to make restitution in the selector's eyes.

The way a young Indian cricketer is perceived in the IPL surely does count - one good performance and that might well be enough to grab everyone’s attention and the much respected 'fame'.

IPL seasons may come and go - but this 'young pool of talent' has no conclusion. I remember the second season of the IPL when a cricketer named Manish Pandey smashed quality international bowlers all around the park and became the first Indian to score a century in the IPL. It was a moment of pride for Indian fans but for Manish Pandey, it was the a changing opportunity. To this very season i.e. the 7th season, Pandey is known for his that very innings - where he totally took the game away from the opposition.

Every IPL comes with a sense of hope among the Indian fans - will we get another good spinner, pacer or maybe another batsman.

There has been one particular player that has impressed a great deal and has somehow been a little neglected with the 'glamour' of the IPL and hasn't grabbed many headlines, he has somehow not been spoken almost every bit much as he probably should've been. I'm talking about Akshar Patel, who is with the team that's heading the points table thus far i.e. Kings XI Punjab.

For his age, Akshar Patel has a great head on his shoulders. Calm, collective and determint - the very signs of a good player indeed. Patel is only 20 years old and therefore the kind of composure that he testifies on the field is commendable. With only 8 first class matches to his name, the pressure of IPL no doubt would be immense for this new lad. For all, this is the stage to 'perform' and make restitution.

Patel's record speaks for him. In the 8 first class matches that he's played in, he has 401 runs at an average of 44.55, along side this in the spin department, he has managed to grab 29 wickets in the 8 matches, at an average of 24.10, which, as you can realize is fairly impressive for somebody his age.

Prior to this season, Akshar Patel played for the Mumbai Indians. In the last season, Patel got only a few opportunities to represent the Mumbai Indians and the chances that he was given, he failed to cash in on them and didn’t put forward a performance true to his calibre. This season has however been different for Patel.

Both with the bat and the ball, Akshar Patel has looked much more solid and confident this season. This could easily be due to the fact that the squad management and the fellow players have expressed faith in Patel which has ensued in a variety of 'luck' for this talented youngster.

In this season thus far, Patel has found the opportunity to play 14 matches, in which he has grabbed 14 wickets at an average of 25.00 with a solid economy of 6.48 RPO. That is not all, if you're a follower of Kings XI Punjab's matches, you'd remember Patel’s useful 42* vs Delhi Daredevils, which also gained him the Man of the Match.

You'd surely want to keen a close eye on Patel in the upcoming playoffs - the deciders of this season's IPL because this young lad can surely turn the game around for his side in no time. The Kings XI Punjab side must be appreciated for allowing a young cricketer in Akshar Patel to flourish in this side.

Consider this, in the impeccably strong Kings XI's batting line-up, Patel gets the chance to go into bat at No.5 or No.6, which consolidates the trust of the team on him, and further, also sets up the fact that Patel sure is no fall guy with the bat.

The Indian team is always on the watch for all rounders and here we have n all rounder who gives a team the flexibility to play a extra batsman or a bowler, and which team wouldn't want that!

Akshar Patel in my eyes, is one of the rising superstars of Indian cricket and with proper training and right exposure, he can turn out to be 'just the all rounder' that India needs and, no doubt, his spin bowling has left the quality batsmen from around the world absolutely clueless this season and for such a player a spot in the Indian team isn’t far away.