Indrajith catches a milestone, a century of another kind

Known for his cultured batting and exemplary use of feet — he has 4,000 plus First Class runs at an average over 50 — B. Indrajith is making news for another aspect of his game.

FILE PHOTO: Baba Indrajith during a Ranji Trophy match against Delhi. | Photo Credit: Manvender Vashist Lav

He’s quick, sharp, and has the eye of the eagle.

Known for his cultured batting and exemplary use of feet — he has 4,000 plus First Class runs at an average over 50 — B. Indrajith is making news for another aspect of his game.

His outstanding catching close-in.

And when Indrajith snapped up Chetan Sakaria at slip off Sandeep Warrier on the third morning of the Tamil Nadu-Saurashtra Ranji clash at Chepauk, he had reached a milestone.

It marked his 100th catching and stumping victim (he has a lone stumping as a make-shift ’keeper against Karnataka in 2014-15) in First Class cricket. And this is his 65th match.

Laudable effort

It is a laudable effort since spin plays a dominant role in matches involving teams from South Zone (Karnataka being the exception) and opportunities in the slips are considerably lower for a specialist like the 28-year-old Indrajith.

He has a safe pair of hands, allowing the ball to come to him rather than grab at the sphere.

Slip catching to spinners can be hard. The distance is short and an edge off an attempted cut can fly rapidly to slip.

A natural close-in catcher, Indrajith has stood bravely at silly point and the two short-legs, plucking quite a few blinders.

Indrajith’s first victim was Bengal’s Abhimanyu Easwaran in the 2013-14 season. And Madhya Pradesh’s Naman Ojha was his 50th, in 2018-19.

And let’s not forget his nifty pick-ups and direct hits.

Tamil Nadu has a rich legacy in close-in catching; S. Venkataraghavan, V. Sivaramakrishnan, L. Sivaramakrishnan, Robin Singh and S. Vasudevan have all pulled off sensational catches.

His eyes on the ball, milestone-man Indrajit is following in their illustrious footsteps.