Rise and fall of Indian Slinga:
2009, Indian parliamentary elections was announced. Most importantly in cricket’s perspective, Indian Premier League shifted its base to South Africa (to accommodate the elections). It was also a time where Indian pace department was heading towards a low in the international scene as bulk of cricket back then was played in sub-continent conditions, Indian spinners shouldered the bowling but our Pace department was brittle as ever. Sensing the need of fresh Indian pacers also considering part of IPL being held at South Africa (Pace friendly conditions) all franchises have more than a reason to find a quality pacer.
A prototypical so called Indian pace bowler scenario would be, after the ball was delivered batsman can look around, see where the fielders are placed, pick his spot, practice his shot, take the applause of the crowd and finally bang, out of the stadium! By the way, all the above mentioned activities can be done after the ball was delivered. Our bowlers were that slow. This juncture saw a surprise emergence of a Teenage sensation; he showed Indian audience that the art of sling bowling doesn’t belong to Malinga alone. He lit up Indian hopes of a remarkable turnaround, he had serious pace with near perfect toe crushing Yorkers at the tender age of 18.
He was spotted by Darren Barry (Director of Coaching, Rajasthan Royals) in a sub-urban domestic tournament and was signed to represent Royals for $24,000(back then, franchises were allowed to sign uncapped players outside the common auction pool). Shane Warne (Captain, Royals) hailed him as the “next big thing of Indian cricket”. Royals camp quoted him as “Tornado”. Not a joke, he had some serious pace behind his back. He bowled 140+ consistently when all the other Indian counterparts were thriving in late 120’s on an average, he was always a notch above. He was 18 while scripting wonders. Clearly, a raw spotted talent requiring a few grooming sessions before becoming a bridegroom.
100 marks if you guessed it right, I am speaking about Kamran Khan.
Sounds familiar?
He could have been an inspirational model for the whole tennis-ball cricket playing community. He had all the elements to have an Indian cap and spearhead the Indian pace attack. He could have been a phenomenon. Even a worse pessimist seeing an 18 year old kid ripping through the defenses of high quality international batsman would feel he has only one way to go that his higher. Unfortunately his cricketing career had a landslide, lady luck wasn’t smiling on him; he is now fighting for his livelihood by working in his wheat farm.
If you have any doubts in his cricketing abilities, have a look at this video clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enVeTH8SQDU&noredirect=1
(Gayle, a proven world beater didn't have an answer to this wonder kid!)
What went wrong?
After a brief stint, Kamran was reported of a suspect action and then became injured. But this bloke with a strong heart fought through all these off field controversies rose above pinching taunts of fellow villagers without any external support and made it back to cricket field. At 2010, he played a couple of first class T20 matches and made himself available for the 2011 IPL auctions. He was bought by Sahara Pune Warriors, injuries and lack of stability in the Team management restricted us to adore him in Pune warriors colours only once. In a rush of squad clearance/rotation/building (whatever they call), Kamran was handed 10 lakh rupees and was asked to bid farewell to his IPL dreams (Pune Warriors franchise was eventually bundled out of IPL).
What could have been done?
In business perspective, Pune Warriors act on Kamran might be justifiable. Feeding an injury prone player who is reported of a suspect action in the bench may not be an astonishing sign for a team struggling to survive. Whereas, IPL is not just about business (believing its objectives). It is about bringing raw talents out to international stage, groom them and make them Indian team ready.
BCCI should have stepped in and should have given him time and financial support for rehabilitation and his battle towards action scrutiny. Nothing really fell in place to protect his dream hence he fell back to his farm fields collecting wheat, trying to support his livelihood.
Disappointed Warne wrote on twitter after hearing about Kamran's plight,
“Found it bizarre that Kamran is working on a farm and not playing IPL. To me a waste of talent, hope your ok buddy”, tweeted Warne (@warne888).
Sadly in Kamran’s case, IPL certainly did not live up to its objective of protecting and grooming Indian talents.
He was last seen in a cricket field on 24th March-2013 playing for Colts Cricket club (First-class cricket club based in Colombo, SriLanka). He is now 24 and still good enough to stage a comeback but realistically it is already end of road for Kamran. His career would be marked in history books as a one season IPL wonder.
For records, Kamran played 9 IPL games and 2 First-class T20 games with a decent strike-rate, a wicket every 17.3 balls.
A potential inspirational story rather had a disappointing end. It could have been a story of an axe-cutter boy turning in to a poster boy, from sleeping in a railway platform bench to a holiday in a luxury suite in Mauritius. Nothing suicidal in his case but he became a prey of situations and a highly qualified management which knows to spell and smell money very well.
Hope this season’s wonder kids Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Hardrik Pandya go beyond a one season wonder and serve Indian Cricket on a longer run.
Until then, have a good one!
2009, Indian parliamentary elections was announced. Most importantly in cricket’s perspective, Indian Premier League shifted its base to South Africa (to accommodate the elections). It was also a time where Indian pace department was heading towards a low in the international scene as bulk of cricket back then was played in sub-continent conditions, Indian spinners shouldered the bowling but our Pace department was brittle as ever. Sensing the need of fresh Indian pacers also considering part of IPL being held at South Africa (Pace friendly conditions) all franchises have more than a reason to find a quality pacer.
A prototypical so called Indian pace bowler scenario would be, after the ball was delivered batsman can look around, see where the fielders are placed, pick his spot, practice his shot, take the applause of the crowd and finally bang, out of the stadium! By the way, all the above mentioned activities can be done after the ball was delivered. Our bowlers were that slow. This juncture saw a surprise emergence of a Teenage sensation; he showed Indian audience that the art of sling bowling doesn’t belong to Malinga alone. He lit up Indian hopes of a remarkable turnaround, he had serious pace with near perfect toe crushing Yorkers at the tender age of 18.
He was spotted by Darren Barry (Director of Coaching, Rajasthan Royals) in a sub-urban domestic tournament and was signed to represent Royals for $24,000(back then, franchises were allowed to sign uncapped players outside the common auction pool). Shane Warne (Captain, Royals) hailed him as the “next big thing of Indian cricket”. Royals camp quoted him as “Tornado”. Not a joke, he had some serious pace behind his back. He bowled 140+ consistently when all the other Indian counterparts were thriving in late 120’s on an average, he was always a notch above. He was 18 while scripting wonders. Clearly, a raw spotted talent requiring a few grooming sessions before becoming a bridegroom.
100 marks if you guessed it right, I am speaking about Kamran Khan.
Sounds familiar?
He could have been an inspirational model for the whole tennis-ball cricket playing community. He had all the elements to have an Indian cap and spearhead the Indian pace attack. He could have been a phenomenon. Even a worse pessimist seeing an 18 year old kid ripping through the defenses of high quality international batsman would feel he has only one way to go that his higher. Unfortunately his cricketing career had a landslide, lady luck wasn’t smiling on him; he is now fighting for his livelihood by working in his wheat farm.
If you have any doubts in his cricketing abilities, have a look at this video clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enVeTH8SQDU&noredirect=1
(Gayle, a proven world beater didn't have an answer to this wonder kid!)
What went wrong?
After a brief stint, Kamran was reported of a suspect action and then became injured. But this bloke with a strong heart fought through all these off field controversies rose above pinching taunts of fellow villagers without any external support and made it back to cricket field. At 2010, he played a couple of first class T20 matches and made himself available for the 2011 IPL auctions. He was bought by Sahara Pune Warriors, injuries and lack of stability in the Team management restricted us to adore him in Pune warriors colours only once. In a rush of squad clearance/rotation/building (whatever they call), Kamran was handed 10 lakh rupees and was asked to bid farewell to his IPL dreams (Pune Warriors franchise was eventually bundled out of IPL).
What could have been done?
In business perspective, Pune Warriors act on Kamran might be justifiable. Feeding an injury prone player who is reported of a suspect action in the bench may not be an astonishing sign for a team struggling to survive. Whereas, IPL is not just about business (believing its objectives). It is about bringing raw talents out to international stage, groom them and make them Indian team ready.
BCCI should have stepped in and should have given him time and financial support for rehabilitation and his battle towards action scrutiny. Nothing really fell in place to protect his dream hence he fell back to his farm fields collecting wheat, trying to support his livelihood.
Disappointed Warne wrote on twitter after hearing about Kamran's plight,
“Found it bizarre that Kamran is working on a farm and not playing IPL. To me a waste of talent, hope your ok buddy”, tweeted Warne (@warne888).
Sadly in Kamran’s case, IPL certainly did not live up to its objective of protecting and grooming Indian talents.
He was last seen in a cricket field on 24th March-2013 playing for Colts Cricket club (First-class cricket club based in Colombo, SriLanka). He is now 24 and still good enough to stage a comeback but realistically it is already end of road for Kamran. His career would be marked in history books as a one season IPL wonder.
For records, Kamran played 9 IPL games and 2 First-class T20 games with a decent strike-rate, a wicket every 17.3 balls.
A potential inspirational story rather had a disappointing end. It could have been a story of an axe-cutter boy turning in to a poster boy, from sleeping in a railway platform bench to a holiday in a luxury suite in Mauritius. Nothing suicidal in his case but he became a prey of situations and a highly qualified management which knows to spell and smell money very well.
Hope this season’s wonder kids Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Hardrik Pandya go beyond a one season wonder and serve Indian Cricket on a longer run.
Until then, have a good one!
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