TNPL, the nursery of gifted entertainers

Batter Sai Sudharsan showed his class, while fast bowler Aswin Crist was back among the wickets after recovering from a career-threatening back injury. The TNPL has once again thrown up cricketers for IPL.

Published : Aug 01, 2022 20:43 IST , Coimbatore

Making heads turn: An absolute natural, highlighting the aesthetics of batting, Sai Sudharsan is the finest young batter in Tamil Nadu.
Making heads turn: An absolute natural, highlighting the aesthetics of batting, Sai Sudharsan is the finest young batter in Tamil Nadu. | Photo Credit: M. PERIASAMY
infoIcon

Making heads turn: An absolute natural, highlighting the aesthetics of batting, Sai Sudharsan is the finest young batter in Tamil Nadu. | Photo Credit: M. PERIASAMY

In the end, the TNPL final churned out a fair result on a night of rain, delays, and blustery winds.

Results arising out of truncated games are, on most occasions, unfair to the losing side simply because they have not received the full quota of overs to display their wares.

The truncated final underlined the promise in the young Lyca southpaw Sai Sudharsan. On a testing pitch with spongy bounce, he was organised as he delicately sliced open a strong Super Gillies attack.

The way he finds the gaps indicates he is in complete control. If there is a squarish third-man and a point, he would cut the ball between the two. And the timing will ensure the ball races to the fence.

Similarly, in these days of straight fields, if there is a long-on and long-off close to the sightscreen, Sudharsan would ease the ball between them. He is light on his feet, uses the depth of the crease, has footwork, and balance. If Sudharsan’s drives are majestic, with a left-hander’s elegance, he is also a strong cutter, puller and sweeper.

An absolute natural, highlighting the aesthetics of batting, Sudharsan is the finest young batter in the State.   

Unsung heroes

TNPL provides a platform for several unsung cricketers and Lyca opener, J. Suresh Kumar, a wicket-keeper batter, sizzled at the top of the order. And the more experienced Sanjay Yadav and B. Aparajith made a mountain of runs for Nellai Royal Kings, often destroying an attack with a blaze of strokes. The two were handy with their spin too.

Pacemen Sandeep Warrier was lively and on target in the final. The hard-working Abhishek Tanwar, the deceptively quick Sonu Yadav and Kiran Akash of lovely outswing caught the eye. 

The nippy Aswin Crist was heartwarmingly back among the wickets after recovering from a career-threatening back injury. K. Easwaran, with his change of pace, holds promise. 

Among the spinners, Balu Surya made a distinct impression with his ability to spin the ball both ways and his control. Apart from his off-spin, he delivers a hard-to-pick carrom ball. He will interest IPL scouts. So will the 17-year-old leg-spinner V. S. Karthick Manikandan, who turns the ball away, bowls a decent wrong ‘un, has a top-spinner, and his own version of the flipper. Even under extreme pressure, against the big-hitters, he is unafraid to flight the ball.

And left-arm spinner Ajith Ram has an easy high-arm release, flight, accuracy and deception.

TNPL has once again thrown up cricketers for IPL.

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment