IPL says it misses you (Part I)

Probably it is human nature to be attracted to vacuum. We pay little attention to what we have and live in our self-created world filled with things that we don’t own, or rather cannot own.

The Indian Premier League this year has been a considerable success; some nail-biting finishes, exciting rivalries and explosive batting has made the league more than watchable. While on one hand, players like Chris Gayle , Virender Sehwag, AB deVilliers have lived up to expectations, there are younger players like Parvinder Awana, Shahbaz Nadeem, KP Appana and Ajit Chandila who have surpassed them.

Yet we being greedy people have set out for more… trying to co-mingle ‘what has been’ and ‘what could have been’. Here is a list of players who could have added more fuel to the already fired up league.

Sir Vivian Richards — The original master-blaster (Sachin fans are already asking me which dictionary I refer to) Viv is best remembered for his carefree approach to every situation in the game. He walked in with his trademark swagger, chewing gum and rolling his arms continuously as a wrestler would do, and by the time he walked out, the bowlers were heaving relief — their legs in their graves. The West Indian was a devastating hooker of the ball and that he did so without ever wearing a helmet made those duels even more charismatic. Unarguably, the most destructive player of any generation, Viv’s game never changed with age and career’s progress. With fields shorter than ever now, this batsman would have crushed any opponent to pieces. Richards and Chris Gayle batting together, makes for a mouth-watering contest?

Chris Cairns — It must be IPL’s poor luck that Cairns couldn’t grace its turf for no fault of his. Although he has won the court case against Modi, Cairns has aged and naturally no one is interested in another player who is past his prime. But ask those born in the nineties what a force he was. A devastating batsman and equally good with the ball, the Kiwi player must have finally realized his true potential in this version. Mumbai Indians wouldn’t mind getting an even better version of Pollard, would they?

Lance Klusener — Zulu, as he was fondly called, was probably the last most attractive finisher to have graced the game. Dhoni and Yuvi probably have been more consistent, but none of them have the charisma of Klusener. Were you there when Rahul Dravid lost the Most-Valuable-Player’s title to him? Did you also grumble and use the same expletives? Well I must have used different expletives if you aren’t from Assam, but I also was as angry. Still none of us can disagree that Klusener had an impact on cricket which reached far beyond that World Cup. This baseball-player-mistakenly-taken-to-cricket could have partnered with Albie Morkel for Chennai — maybe Dhoni wouldn’t have underused him as he does to the latter.

Javed Miandad — Chetan Sharma, Denis Lillee and Kiran More are as equal as anyone else, and so are allowed to have their opinion, but not here. The Pakistani probably was the most entertaining cricketer ever. Notorious for getting into regular scuffles — we Indians consider him far more notorious for his last ball six off Chetan Sharma which won Pakistan that match — Miandad was an extremely stylish and aggressive batsman. Some people still believe he is the best batsman Pakistan has ever produced, while others say he was the pioneer of aggressive batting in ODIs. We could have picked him up even for the entertainment quotient that is attached to the IPL. An astute leader, he could have charged up the Deccan Chargers.

Wasim Akram — One of the credible inventors of reverse swing, Akram is still regarded as the best left-arm fast bowler the game has ever seen. He has troubled batsmen world over, that includes Tendulkar, with his immaculate accuracy combined with ample amount of pace. Akram was also an explosive batsman down the order. He once scored an unbeaten 257 against Zimabwe in a Test match, an innings which included twelve sixes. Maybe with Akram in Pune, Ganguly could have done away with Nehra/Parnell/Matthews.

Jonty Rhodes — Jonty brought into the field some kind of electric power. He was a fielding equivalent of batsmen like Tendulkar and Jayasuriya, and bowlers like Warne and Akram. Those who were lucky to be born in the nineties can proudly claim to have seen the best fielder and the most photogenic moments in cricket: Rhodes in the air to take a catch and there for quite some time (or was I hallucinating?), Rhodes in the air and he throws himself at the stumps to get someone run-out. Also an underrated batsman who ran amazingly fast between the wickets, Rhodes could add some spark to the Kolkatan outfit.

Ajay Jadeja — An odd choice he might seem, but Jadeja was a heartthrob of many in his heydays before the fixing controversy ate him up. The hype wasn’t for nothing; the Indian middle-order batsman was our generation’s only stylish cricketer amidst the crowd of the laborious and studious. If Azhar had a natural flair in his batting, Jadeja was any day for eccentric than the captain whom he assisted. His one-handed sixes and cool demeanor even in defeat, made him an immensely enjoyable character. He was an excellent fielder and a brilliant finisher, a true match-winner who had won India many crucial matches. There was a saying in the cricket then, “When going gets tough, Jadeja gets going.”

Delhi’s former Ranji player could have easily played for his city’s own team.

Allan Donald — A personal favourite, Donald was the most fearsome bowler of his time. The writer of his article has a confession to make: he used to wear moisturiser over his nose, stretched to his cheeks (as alternative to Donald’s suncream) to ensure that he looked like his hero. The white-lightning who now works as Pune Warrior’s bowling coach could easily scare away some of today’s players with just his trademark glare. He bowled really fast in his prime, mixing his yorkers and bouncers admirably. That he still remains one of South-Africa’s highest wicket-taker is just another proof of his greatness. Donald and Steyn operating in tandem? Donald and Malinga? Donald and Morne Morkel?

This is the first instalment of this series which deals with players who could have made a difference in the IPL. This part deals with only the former players, we have two more exciting categories coming up.

PS. If I missed out on the players you wanted to see, pardon me and do let me know in the forum or in the form of comments.

IPL misses you (Part 2)