CHENNAI : In the 80s when limited-over cricket was at its prime at Sharjah, Bishan Singh Bedi — known for his caustic comments — declared that players over 30 should not play ODIs. The remark was aimed at Sunil Gavaskar and Mohinder Amarnath. Gavaskar proved a point by winning the Man of the Series award in that tri-series, for his fielding! Fast forward to 2018, the ‘old’ brigade of CSK once again proved that experience matters and put up a spectacular show and won the IPL. Taking cue from CSK’s performance, the 30-plus club in TNPL 3 are dishing out creditable performances.
If it was Ruby Trichy Warriors’ S Suresh Kumar and C Ganapathy in the initial rounds, on Saturday at Chepauk it was the turn of Anirudha Srikkanth, captain of iDream Karaikudi Kaalai, to set a good platform for his team against Chepauk Super Gillies. Anirudha’s 28-ball 56 helped Karaikudi register a 47- run win against Super Gillies. “You see, the IPL is different from TNPL. In TNPL, you need a bit of experience to excel. Exposure to playing against the white ball, under lights and in front of big crowds is less for youngsters. They cannot straight away go and express themselves. One needs time to adapt.
For example, fielding under lights is not that easy, especially when the ball comes between two floodlight towers. Or if there is good breeze it will be difficult to judge and take a catch. So experience counts,’’ said KH Gopinath, captain of the Super Gillies. Gopi made another strong observation, which is the mantra followed by most teams. “It all boils down to how the top-three players play. If you have solid openers, get a good start and not lose too many wickets during the powerplay, one can be assured of a good total,’’ he said. Former Indian wicketkeeper Bharath Reddy too lauded the over-30 performers. “It is good to see the likes of Anirudha, Suresh Kumar, Ganapathy make a mark in the tournament.
Be it any format, experience always counts. But keeping in mind the future, we also need to identify and nurture young talent,’’ opined Reddy. S Sharath, chairman of the senior state selection committee, is pleased with the performances of senior pros. “It is to good to see all these guys dish out excellent performances. I can assure that age will not be a factor when we pick teams in the shorter formats. Performance and fitness will be the main criteria.” ashok.v@newindianexpress.com
Brief scores: iDream Karaikudi Kaalai 193/5 in 20 ovs (Anirudha Srikkanth 56, M Shajahan 43 n.o, Maan K Bafna 31) bt Chepauk Super Gillies 146/6 in 20 ovs (KH Gopinath 47, M Ashwin 33 n.o).