TIRUNELVELI: They really are two of a kind, Baba Indrajith and Baba Aparajith, separated at birth by 26 minutes and having traversed a similar path with cricket, it’s always the talk of the town when the identical twins play together. Though Aparajith, the younger one rose to fame following his heroics with the 2012 U-19 World Cup winning squad and performances with ‘A’ teams, the elder twin Indrajith took time to establish himself.
Though Aparajith broke into first-class cricket at the age of 17, two years before the elder one was handed a Tamil Nadu cap during the 2013 Ranji season, everyone knew it was just a matter of time before Indrajith joined his sibling in making an impression. Not many know that the Baba boys became the first set of twins to play first-class cricket in India when Indrajith made his debut against Saurashtra.
Indrajith, who captains the Ruby Trichy Warriors in the Tamil Nadu Premier League, feels the match against his sibling on Sunday will be a good contest, when Aparajith leads out the VB Thiruvallur Veerans. “It’s definitely a good match. I’m looking forward to it but I don’t see any pressure because we have played with each other for a very long time. It’s only few times we have been against each other. But I don’t see any extra pressure,” said the skipper of the Warriors.
Tinu Yohannan, coach of the Warriors, who has seen the Baba brothers playing together, agreed with his captain and believes matches like this will bring out the best in them.
“Both are very relaxed. I don’t think that (being brothers) will serve as a disturbance. Also the fact that they have played cricket for so long, they are experienced enough to handle the situation. More than pressure, having each other on the opposite side will motivate them to play better.”
With a double-header on Sunday, it will be interesting to see which of the right-handed batsmen’ team emerges as winners. Warriors are yet to register a victory while Veerans have won one and lost one in the second edition of the TNPL so far.
srinidhi@newindianexpress.com