THE PRIVILEGE OF YOUNGSTERS

There was a time when every cricket freak felt apprehensive about the future of cricket once the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Michael Hussey, Kumar Sangakkara, Zaheer Khan, Brett Lee retires. The admission of Twenty 20 cricket also made the gentlemen game feels the heat. Fear reached its pinnacle when they felt a danger of losing the elegance and charm of the game. The ICC and many country boards tried their best for the requital of the fame and glory of the game. They have changed many rules, made some amendments but nothing improved drastically.  Whole world of cricket is in utter dismay.

In this time of deterioration, comes the player like Pat Cummins, Virat Kohli, Steven Finn, Brendan Taylor, Malcolm Waller, Junaid Khan and many others. One common attribute among all these is great temperament, to make the team cross that Victory line. They have made people believe that there is still lot of quality cricket left apart from T20’s.

Patrick Cummins

The world first noticed Patrick Cummins in preliminary final of KFC Big Bash 2011, where he bowled magnificently before finishing with 4/16. Within no time, at the age of 18 he was given the license to wear Australian colors. In his tour to South Africa T20, he performed well equally with the likes of Bollinger and Johnson, which ended up placing him in the Test squad in what was said to be a meteoric rise. 

Pakistan has always been a fast bowling factory and the assembly line of fast bowlers is not going to end its production any time soon. Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akthar, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir, Junaid Khan, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir, Tanvir Ahmed and the list goes on. I am sure no country has produced as much Pakistan has produced and no country has wasted as they did. The current Promising bowler for them is Junaid Khan who is very impressive in both the pace and swing departments. 

After winning the Emerging Player of the year Award in 2010, Steven Finn has a magnificent career. He has produced some crucial spells for the team cause. When all the English players struggled to contend the Indian batsman, Steven Finn bowled brilliantly to make them feel the heat. From years ago, there are many English players who bowled to the mark in their home conditions, who in turn failed miserably in Sub Continent pitches. In contrast Steven Finn looked very promising who need to be churned properly for bright future.

Given the right guidance, why shouldn't Cummins, Finn and Junaid continue to prosper – aside? Handled with care and honesty, protected from leeches and temptation, they can be every bit as good as we would love them to be. So long as those doing the guiding do so selflessly.

October 26, 2011 Zimbabwe enjoyed a splendid chase of 329 with the help of Malcolm Waller and Brendan Taylor. Brendan Taylor who scored two back to back centuries albeit losing cause has provided much required momentum to chase a mammoth score. But Malcolm Waller is the one who steal the show absolutely. He scored 99 of 74 balls by marshaling the tail to take the game down to the last two balls. He might have tried for an aerial shot which fetches him a century to remember forever, but he kept his mind cool and played for the team cause. As they lurched from defeat to defeat, victories like this will imbibe some amount of required confidence, belief in them.

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli is one of the notified performers who are currently enjoying a prolific run. In and outside India he has become a run machine in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, and Yuvraj Singh. It is very soon to call him as next Rahul Dravid for the team India, but he has made everything right till now to notch that position. 

From Vinod Kambli to Ajantha Mendis, scores of purported cricketing prodigies have turned out to be either profligate or prodigal. Winning the ICC Emerging Player award is fast becoming a guarantee of a brisk fade - witness Irfan Pathan, Shaun Tait, Ajantha Mendis and JP Duminy. Woe betides those burdened by stardom before experience has broadened their shoulders.