Eight reasons why a ‘real’ cricket fan should watch IPL 6

by Ashish Magotra

In the eyes of many, the IPL is pure entertainment. The game itself seems like an afterthought especially after the Opening Nite. So once you’ve worked your way through ‘Mr’ Pitbull, Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Mamata Banerjee, Rajeev Shukla, N Srinivasan and somehow managed to survive it all, you finally get to the cricket.

And even then, what do you get? You get Ranji trophy with an upped glam quotient. You get a tournament that the national selectors ‘don’t’ have to watch. You get a few veterans who can’t say goodbye. You get a few youngsters who have struck the get rich quickly jackpot.

And then if you are still there – you get the real stories. You get the Paul Valthatys, the Swapnil Asnodkars, the Rohan Rajes, the Ambati Rayudus, the Ali Murtuzas and many more.

So what are the stories worth keeping an eye on in the sixth season of the IPL? There will be the feel-good stories, but IPL 6 is different because it matters in a cricketing sense. It’s not just all slam-bang cricket; it’s much more than that. The careers of some veteran Indian stars could well be decided during the course of the tournament and if you still really need a reason to watch it – then here are seven.

Virender Sehwag: Is his vision okay? How fit is he? Will he somehow make it back into the Indian team on the back of his IPL performances? Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan have performed in the absence of Sehwag and that means the Delhi star will need to work his way back into the side on the back of some spectacular performances in the IPL. Given how difficult it is to be consistent in the IPL – one can’t help but look forward to that.

Gautam Gambhir: The slump has been pronounced, but his captaincy of KKR last year was pretty inspirational. It might be the kick he needs to get back to scoring runs. He has played in South Africa before and his experience will be invaluable to a young Indian team. But before all that – he needs to score runs and figure out where his off-stump is, real-cricket style.

Rohit Sharma: If Rohit has a bad IPL, he just may be lost to Indian cricket for a long time. He should be playing Test cricket, he certainly has the talent to do so, but he has been clearly upstaged by Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and the other members of the youth brigade. Will he find his joie de vivre again in IPL 6? He sure needs to.

Zaheer Khan: One day, he was being compared to Tendulkar by Dhoni. The next day, he was dropped. Then to make matter worse, he picked up an injury and couldn’t even help Mumbai in the latter stages of the Ranji Trophy. So where exactly is Zaheer Khan? In what kind of space is he? Once again, it is a case of a big player who has hit an unimaginable low.

Umesh Yadav: Heir apparent to Zaheer Khan, he bowls with great pace, but has been laid low by injuries. He came back from a four-month injury lay-off to take five for 18 versus Odisha in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy.  If he can go through the entire season without breaking down, he will put a lot of minds at ease. The trick for him is not so much bowling well. It is more about getting through the tournament.

Sachin Tendulkar: He still has it in him. When he came out and slammed Nathan Lyon for two successive sixes off the first two balls he faced during the recent Test series against Australia – it was something no one had seen him do for a long time. So the spark is still there, but what will he make of it? As always, there will be a lot of interest around that.

Harbhajan Singh: Sigh. World’s best spinner, the new Nostradamus in the making or singer of Punjabi poems? Either which way, Harbhajan win find a way to be in the news. His chances of making the Indian team are slim but will he inspire another slap-gate? After all, Ponting is in the same team as him.

Cheteshwar Pujara: Pujara has shown that he has tons of patience while batting in a Test match. But does he have the flair too? Should he be kept away from T20 or be allowed to make this format his own too? In domestic cricket, he has hit some stunning knocks in ODIs and T20 matches. Can he do it in the IPL? His evolution will be one thing we should all track.

Of course, there will always be Ravindra Jadeja too. But the stories about the other senior players are the stories that really are worth tracking. It’s make or break for many of them and that’s what makes it so exciting.

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