Irfan Pathan, RP Singh and Ishant Sharma – three Indian fast bowlers who made headlines in three different stages of India’s cricketing history, but somehow withered away.
With the IPL auction on Monday, it would be interesting to see what is in store for these three senior Indian pacers. A selection in a proper franchise which provides them fair opportunities is what all the three desperately need as a good and steady performance this IPL season may well turn things around for them; especially with a spot in the Champions Trophy up for grabs later in the summer.
Irfan Pathan
The tale of Irfan Pathan’s incredible rise as a teen sensation and subsequent fall has been perhaps one of Indian cricket’s most tragic one. The left-arm swing bowler from Vadodara, Gujarat had become the poster boy of Indian cricket with his boyish charm, curly locks and a penchant for producing match-winning performances regularly. However, when he was forced to become the all-rounder India needed, Pathan lost the spunk in his bowling and was gradually left out of the side.
Pathan has been in and out of the national squad over the years and is still fighting it out to make a return. He has also played for multiple IPL sides including Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Chennai Super Kings and Rising Pune Supergiants squads. In the last two seasons, he has only played four IPL games and one would hope that the talented cricketer gets more opportunities this time round.
Of late though, the 32-year-old has actually upped his performances. In a recent West Zone match, Pathan cracked an unbeaten 65 for Baroda and also picked up 2 wickets for 24 runs.
With a base price of 50 lakh, Pathan should get a good deal at the auctions this time and with a good performance can still make a comeback.
Ishant Sharma
The 6'4" tall bowler shot to fame during India’s 2007-08 Test series in Australia where he troubled their best batsmen with his pace and bounce. It has been 10 years since, and Ishant is yet to establish himself as the leader of India’s pace attack as many had hoped. Regular tiffs with injuries and inconsistent form have seen Sharma in and out of the limited overs teams although he does remain a permanent feature of the Test side.
Sharma has played for the Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rising Pune Supergiants in the IPL. His performance in the league, however, hasn’t been great of late - just seven wickets in 11 matches in the last three seasons. However, fact remains that Sharma is one of the very few Indian bowlers who has picked up a five-wicket haul in the IPL and seems to be in good flow at present.
Having a base price of Rs.2 crore, he may not fetch mind-boggling numbers in the auctions, but he is sure to attract some attention.
Sharma showed traces of his very best in India’s one-off Test against Bangladesh recently.
RP Singh
It’s almost surprising to know that RP Singh is still just 31 years of age. The left-arm medium pacer from Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh had burst into the scenes after winning the Man of the Match award on his Test debut against Pakistan in 2006 and during India’s successful World T20 campaign in 2007 in South Africa. The swing bowler had made it into the national side courtesy a terrific performance in the 2004 ICC U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh and went from strength to strength thereafter. He had pace, he could swing the ball both ways and looked to be India’s next big pace sensation. However, injuries and inconsistent form hindered RP Singh’s progress and he soon fell out of the national side.
His performance in the IPL has been quite decent and he had even bagged the Purple Cap award in the 2009 edition. The pacer has featured for the Deccan Chargers, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the championship and, after a gap of three years, returned to the league last year to play for the Rising Pune Supergiants.
His performance in the domestic circuit has been fairly good in the recent past and with a base price of just 30 lakhs, Singh would be a great value-for-money buy and should be hopeful for getting some decent bids at the auctions.
But a national call up is unlikely unless he sets the IPL on fire this season.
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