India in a special league!

Apart from the massive financial boost and enormous increase in fan interest Indiarsquos biggest gain from a highly productive IPL competition has been the huge improvement in playing depthIndiarsquos overseas reputation was an improving one especially under the captaincy reign of a competitive Sourav Ganguly but it gradually increased when the IPL began 15 seasons back in 2008 The quietly thoughtful MS Dhonimdashwho is still exerting an influencemdashbuilt on Gangulyrsquos reputation which was then improved upon by the highly competitive leadership of Virat KohliThe firmly established and international wide IPL of 2022 is now seen as the most important part of Indiarsquos enviable depth in international cricketTo the thoughtful players as far back as the 1970s Indian cricket was a major concern It was felt even then that if India ever capitalised on its enormous population advantage and decided to select its best teams then eventually size would prevailThose fears materialised when the IPL gathered worldwide popularity Indiarsquos overseas results initially were creditable and thenmdashespecially in Australiamdashby the 2020rsquos they were the most feared team in the Test competitionNot only did India under Kohli ably assisted by Ajinkya Rahane win internationally but in 2021 they also achieved an incredible series victory over Australia which confirmed their playerdepth This was an Indian team not only ably led but also displaying ample resolve and being competitively better than the previously almost impregnable Australia in home conditionsIndia has always had individual stars In the past there were outstanding batsmen like Sunil Gavaskar Vijay Hazare and Mohammed Azharuddin The allrounders were headed by the extremely athletic and successful Kapil Dev but Vinoo Mankad also held a special place among his peersSpinners there were plenty but the big threemdashErapalli Prasanna Bishan Bedi and Bhagwat Chandrasekharmdashheaded the list of past greatsHowever India who had produced the odd faster bowler lacked a pace conglomerate That was until the IPL began to bare its teeth and now we have the current generation of fast bowlers to round out a versatile attack and accompany a strong batting lineup buoyed by a decent catching combinationNowadays Indiarsquos enormous depth in pace bowling is the envy of most countries The development of star pacemen like Jasprit Bumrah Mohammad Shami and Mohammad Siraj has been instrumental in Indiarsquos improved overseas reputationNevertheless there is a depth below that group in the successful Ishant Sharma the underrated Umesh Yadav and a handy backup in Shardul ThakurIndia had evolved from a team that had a reputation where some players treasured the blazer sweater and cap more than actual selection in the Test side to one that was extremely difficult to beat under any conditionsIn addition to the enormous increase in pace bowling power the improved fielding culture boosted by the international flavour of the IPL helped advance Indiarsquos reputation Years ago in an Indian Test cricket documentary former captain Tiger Pataudi spoke of how ldquothe batsmen used to go into the slips and drop all the catchesrdquoThis comment elicited a huge guffaw from the audience but the influential Pataudi who was a brilliant cover fieldsman himself made a valid pointThe pace bowling evolution shows no sign of abating and the name on IPL lips is currently the pacy Umran Malik In the past India have displayed patience in developing its fast bowling group but the genuine pace of Malik will be hard to ignoreIn a world where pace bowling is a valuable commodity India are now a shining light However as England has displayed recently thoughtful captaincy isnrsquot easy to uncover but India seem to be doing a good job in this regard through the extremely competitive IPLIndia are currently a dominant international side and if they continue to show the required resolve they will continue to be a leading team That is an envious position and India can thank the highly successful IPL for much of their lofty reputationClayton Murzellorsquos Pavilion End column will return next weekSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper