You can bat on them!

The young batting talent witnessed in Indian Premier League16 across all 10 teams makes Indian cricket look seriously intimidating to their immediate and future opponentsKolkata Knight Ridersrsquos Rinku Singh provided indication that he can be seen finishing off T20 games for India soonMumbairsquos Yashasvi Jaiswal showed time and again during the tournament that he has a special appetite for big runs His 124 against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium deserved to be a matchwinning one but it was not to be as the hosts chased down the 213run target And how good was his unbeaten 98 against Kolkata Knight Riders less than two weeks later at the Eden Gardens Tilak Varma of Mumbai Indians is another young batsman the selectors would have been impressed withSai Sudharsanrsquos innings for Gujarat Titans in the final against Chennai Super Kings on Monday night proved that he can ride the storm pick up pace and go the distanceShubman Gill is just 23 but he goes about his cricket like a veteran He has the kind of talent and runmaking ability across all formats which leaves little doubt that hersquoll turn out to be an alltime greatI dare say if and when Virat Kohli enters the final stage of his great career Gill by then will be entrenched as the mainstay of Indian batting lineups across all formats He might also be groomed for a leadership roleTwo young batsmen who were expected to shine this year but didnrsquot were Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan both Mumbaibased both from Delhi CapitalsThe formerrsquos poor show must have Ricky Ponting in a spot For as head coach of Delhi Capitals Ponting said in March ldquoI spoke to him Prithvi the other day about his attitude and the way that hersquos working and how things are going I honestly feel that this is going to be his biggest season ever in the IPLrdquoWhile we hope that Shaw and Sarfaraz get back among the runs these are indeed exciting times At least where the shortest form of the game is concernedI have called the IPL a circus in my social media posts and in many ways it is but kudos to the event in the main and the talent spotters of the respective franchisesThe current situation caused me to remember what then BCCI consultant Geoff Marsh remarked when we were chatting at the Cricket Club of India in 2000 ldquoThere is no reason why India shouldnrsquot be the best team in the world considering the talent they haverdquoMarsh whose two sons Shaun and Mitchell have been part of the IPL and have seen much more of Indiarsquos cricketing talent than Marsh Sr will be delighted that India is finally doing justice to its resourcesAmidst all the batting feats by the young guns one must not forget Kohlirsquos centuries for Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL16 will also be remembered as the edition in which Chennai Super Kingsrsquos Ajinkya Rahane showed that the unlikeliest of transformations can happen in sportDhoni wouldnrsquot have been vilified for not playing the former India captain in the XI The fact that he played him in 14 of the 16 games is testament to the kind of faith Dhoni had in his former India teammate Sure players have to go out and perform but they also require fuel in the form of encouragement Wersquoll probably never know the kind of conversations Dhoni and Rahane had before the Mumbai Ranji Trophy captain kicked off his impressive IPL16 run sequence But Irsquom guessing it wonrsquot be very different to for example Allan Border telling rookie Dean Jones before the 198687 series in India that he will be his No3 for the next twothree years Jones went on to score a breathtaking double century in the Tied Test at Chennai And the record books show that Jones averaged 4863 in that pivotal positionldquoI felt 10 feet tall after that conversation with AB Borderrdquo Jones told meAnother significant skipperbatsman chat was the one England captain David Gower had with Mike Gatting before the 198485 series unfolded in India Gatting had been playing for England on and off after debuting in 197778 He hadnrsquot scored a Test hundred in his first 30 Tests On landing in New Delhi the conversation as culled out from Gattingrsquos book Leading From the Front went like thisGower What number do you want to batGatting Well Irsquove been batting 3 for Middlesex lrsquod be very happy if I could do thatGower Right And Irsquoll go in No 4 What wersquoll do is wersquoll try it like that for the first couple of matches and then if it doesnrsquot work wersquoll drop you down the order All right GattGatting was thrilled He wrote ldquoI looked at David and I looked out over the city of New Delhi and suddenly I realised my life had changed I wasnrsquot going to be in and out of England any morerdquoGatting went on to be one of the batting stars in the series Not only did he get his maiden Test hundred in the seriesopener at Mumbai he also smashed a double century in the Chennai TestBack to Indian batsmen The June 711 World Test Championship final against Australia is close at hand Sure Gill will be expected to extend his form displayed in the IPL But much will depend on veterans like Cheteshwar Pujara Rohit Sharma Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane too The ball will be a red one and the conditions far different What is constant is the importance of runs All cricketing thoughts lead to The Ovalmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper