English county season and overseas leagues the solution to Indian cricket's woes?

Shaun Marsh

The tagline of the Indian Premier League (IPL) says “Talent meets opportunity”. There is no denying the fact that the league has provided a platform to the young Indian players to showcase their talents to the whole world. But the overseas players have also benefitted a lot from it. Players like Shaun Marsh and Kieron Pollard, using the IPL and its affiliate Champions League T20 (CLT20), respectively, as a stage, gained prominence worldwide that helped them in earning a national call-up.

Home away from home

But an important thing to be noted is that, besides the 2014 season, the overseas players’ performances overpowered the ones of the domestic players, despite the fact that they were playing on foreign pitches. The fact that it took almost 2 seasons for an Indian to score a century in the IPL is a testimony to the fact that the Indian players didn’t actually respond to the opportunity immediately. Because of the ‘4 overseas players’ policy, it may very well be said that only the proven world class players end up in the playing XI, and thus they are expected to play a superior brand of cricket. But, at the end of the day, they are still playing on alien conditions, or may be not. 

I personally believe that due to the large number of matches that the overseas players play in India, they have become well-accustomed to the conditions. In other words, India has become a “home away from home” in terms of cricket for a lot of these overseas players. The sense of unfamiliarity has become minimal, and thus there is, as such, no mystery surrounding on how to play on the Indian decks. This has translated into an improvement in the performance of overseas players in India. It gives an ironically self-induced disadvantage to India, while we continue our life-long struggle on foreign conditions.

The necessity of foreign exposure

I have often wondered why we don’t see Indian participation in overseas domestic competitions, be it the English county season or various T20 leagues played across the globe. As much as I have read or heard, availability of players has always been sighted as the reason behind this absence. It may be an acceptable justification, as India is pretty much known to play non-stop cricket. But I believe it is necessary to level the playing field. If the overseas players can regularly feature in Indian leagues, then, perhaps, we could do the same.

At any point of time, there are players, who are of international quality, find themselves out-of-favour with the selectors, whether due to loss of form or fitness issues, or both. Performing well in tough conditions has always received the praise and acknowledgement of media as well as the selectors. Indian pitches are actually more of a bane for the domestic players.

For example, if a batsman scores heaps of runs, then the sceptics can easily say that those runs were scored on batting-friendly pitches, thereby leading to him not getting the much deserved acclaim. Pacers usually keep on struggling all day long on dead wickets without much luck. There is a dire need for an improvement in the quality of cricket in the Indian domestic circuit; hence, it may be more beneficial for a certain set of players, who are looking to force their way back into the side or to quell the prejudice, if they play in the overseas leagues. Maybe, the English county season is the solution.

The Zaheer way

The English conditions have always been given utmost respect in India. It is often considered the place where a player gets to prove how good he is technically. The adjustments a batsman has to make are like no other country. Even though the conditions are favourable for pace bowling, a pacer has to bowl really well to get full use of the pitch. Moreover, the whole domestic structure is considered supremely “professional”. It doesn’t coincide with the Indian domestic season; hence, the players who are not on international duty can make use of this time by playing county cricket.

The biggest Indian beneficiary of the county cricket was Zaheer Khan. Struggling with form and fitness, a comeback to the Indian team was becoming difficult day by day for the left-arm pacer. But his stint with Worcestershire completely transformed his game. His hard work paid off as he was called back into the team. It was no usual comeback. It seemed as if he had mastered the art of seam bowling, earning his right to be called the “bowling captain” of the team.

The recently retired Murali Kartik was another player who enhanced his reputation through county cricket. Even though he couldn’t fulfil his potential in international cricket, he was successful in earning the respect of other players and fans. The experience he gained through years of county cricket was unparalleled. Ironically, now he is considered just an unlucky player who was playing during an era where India already had 2 quality spinners in the form of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, with many of the belief that he should have played much more than he actually did.

Of late, players like Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh have had county stints, albeit a brief one that couldn’t make a telling impact on their game. 

Even T20 leagues will do

If not First-class cricket, then Indian players could definitely think about playing various T20 leagues around the world. The inception of the IPL opened the doors for numerous franchise-based T20 leagues all over the world, be it the Australian T20 league, Big Bash League or the Caribbean Premier League or the Natwest T20 Blast. These leagues have given opportunities to T20 specialists from around the world to showcase their talent, and I see no harm in Indian players making use of it, too. 

The BCCI has paved the way for international stars to stake their claim to fame. Maybe it’s time that it allows its own players to do the same outside India.