TATA IPL 2023 | Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Verma, Sai Sudarshan are India’s future

TATA IPL

The future of Indian cricket is in good hands. Certainly in the white-ball format. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is known to throw up outstanding talent, separating those with the potential to last long from the also-rans.

While Chennai Super Kings’ Ruturaj Gaikwad got a taste of international cricket last year and should have got an extended run rather than being cut short at 10 matches (1 ODI, 9 T20Is) across five series, Mumbai Indians’ Tilak Verma and Gujarat Titans’ Sai Sudarshan, both left-handed batsmen with supreme skills and abundant confidence, are the ones to watch out for in the future. While Sudarshan is 21, Verma is 20, and Gaikwad is not far away at 26.

Sudarshan and Verma are looked at as India material in all the formats. They have shown that they belong there, from whatever they have performed in IPL 2022, and this year so far.

The left-hander from Tamil Nadu played an outstanding match-winning knock against Delhi Capitals in the latter’s backyard on Tuesday to bag his first man-of-the-match award at this level.

Former India captain and World Cup winner Krishnamachari Srikkanth was impressed by the youngster from his State, Tamil Nadu. Srikkanth told Moneycontrol.com, “Sai played very well. I am very impressed with his knock against Delhi Capitals. He played with great composure and effortlessly against the likes of Nortje.”

He played some exquisite shots in Titans’ six-wicket win against Capitals, not playing the bowler but the delivery. Irrespective of the pace at which Anrich Nortje delivered or the angles at which Kuldeep Yadav sent down his left-arm wrist spinners, Sudarshan played brilliantly to reach his second IPL half-century in seven innings.

Sudarshan has become a vital cog in the Titans’ line-up, anchoring the innings at No. 3 and setting it up for the finishers, the likes of which David Miller and Rahul Tewatia have more often done the job successfully for the Gujarat franchise.

Sai Sudharsan

Miller, who landed from South Africa straight after his international assignment on Sunday and scored an unbeaten 31 to steer his team home in the company of Sudarshan, had only words of praise for the Tamil Nadu youngster. Miller said, “Sai has played a few games last year and to come and do what he’s done in the last two games is encouraging for the team. He is a seriously talented player. We do need him in the squad. It is nice to see him doing really well, making the correct decisions out there and when we needed boundaries, getting them. Am really happy with his performance and it’s great to see him get the man-of-the-match award.”

Skipper Hardik Pandya saw Sudarshan as a long-term investment not only by the franchise, but also by the Indian cricket board. He said after Titans’ second successive victory in as many matches this season, “He has been batting terrifically. The amount of batting he has been doing in the last 15 days, all the results you can see, are all his hard work. In two years, he will do something great for franchise cricket as well as Indian cricket.”

Sudarshan began well in the Titans’ opening match against Chennai Super Kings, walking in to bat as an Impact Player for the injured Kane Williamson and scoring 22 with some delightful shots.

Sudarshan’s favourite hobby is drawing. His Tamil Nadu captain and Titans’ team-mate Vijay Shankar revealed, “Sai is a beautiful artist, he has a lot of art done in his room,” at which Sudarshan blushed: “I am just drawing random stuff.”

With the willow in his hand, Sudarshan has painted some powerful pictures, drawing the boundary lines to his liking and despatching the balls where he intended to with precision. Using the pace of Nortje to pick the boundaries behind the wicket, driving and pulling the spinners and pacers alike, Sudarshan is certainly one for the future.

Sudarshan has had a fruitful 2022-23 domestic season for Tamil Nadu, picking up 610 runs with three centuries in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (the third-highest scorer in the country behind team-mate N Jagadeesan, 830, and Maharashtra’s Ruturaj Gaikwad, 660), 170 runs at 28.33 in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and 572 at 47.66 with two centuries and a 50 in the Ranji Trophy.

FEARLESS VERMA

Tilak Varma of Mumbai Indians during a practice session at RCP in Navi Mumbai on 22nd March 2023.Photo: Pal PILLAI /Focus Sports/ MI

Another exciting left-handed batting talent is Hyderabad’s 20-year-old Verma. The start he had to the tournament, albeit in a losing cause for Mumbai Indians (MI) against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru last Sunday, was the kind of knock that showed why he should be fast-tracked into the Indian team. Even when the wickets were falling at the other end, Verma was batting in his own way. He did not withhold himself from playing his shots.

It seemed as if Verma was batting on a pitch different from where the rest of the Mumbai batsmen did. He used his feet beautifully against the RCB spinners as well as against someone like speedster Mohammed Siraj to confidently play his shots with great effect. His 84 in just 46 balls out of the team total of 171 ought to have ended on a winning note.

The former India under-19 batsman showed immense maturity and batted like a seasoned performer in the company of two other youngsters, both T20 debutants, Nehal Wadhera and Arshad Khan. He dominated the partnerships with Wadhera and Khan, to take MI to a total to fight with.

"Tilak played brilliantly, and so did the other youngsters,” said MI bowling coach Shane Bond, while skipper Rohit Sharma added, “Tilak is a very positive person, quite talented as well. In some of the shots he played against RCB, he showed a lot of courage. We wanted to be courageous enough, and hats off to Tilak for getting us to the total.”

Verma took to IPL without any difficulty last year. He was MI’s second-highest run-getter with 397 runs, behind Ishan Kishan (418 runs), and struck at 131.02, batting largely at No. 4 and 5. He extended his good run in domestic white ball tournaments for Hyderabad, accumulating 402 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, with two centuries and 297 in six visits with four half-centuries in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

‘GAIKWAD BE GIVEN LONG ROPE IN INDIAN TEAM’

Ruturaj Gaikwad

The most experienced of the trio is Maharashtra’s Gaikwad. His hitting of the cricket ball ― some of the sixes looked effortless even for his lean physique ― speaks about sheer timing and execution. For the start that he has given to Chennai Super Kings this year, scoring 92 and 57 in the two matches so far, it is a surprise that he was not given an extended run in the Indian T20I team.

Former national selector and stalwart of Maharashtra batting of the 1980s and 1990s, Surendra Bhave, under whose tutelage Gaikwad played for Maharashtra in his early years, felt the CSK star should be given a long rope in the Indian team.

Speaking to this website, Bhave said: “When it comes to the team environment, he is so focused. He is very popular on the team. With the form that he is going through, it is high time he is given a proper opportunity. With the kind of batting form that he is in, I think he should be utilised at the highest level, and not just at the domestic level and in the IPL. With a little bit of work, he is could be successful in the multi-day format as well. He is good enough to adjust from white-ball cricket to red-ball. Even on damp pitches and on pitches that turn square, he has proved himself. These are the things that make a difference. That is why he should be given a longer run.”

Gaikwad’s initiation into IPL was not memorable in 2020 in the UAE with scores of 0, 5, and 0 in his first three innings, before being given the confidence by none other than captain MS Dhoni that he would be given an extended run, being the batting mainstay in the following season. This confidence immediately saw Gaikwad score 65*, 72, and 62* to sign off the 2020 season in style.

He emerged the Orange Cap winner in 2021, forging a formidable partnership with Faf du Plessis at the top before joining hands with Devon Conway and giving CSK formidable starts in 2022 and 2023.