Is IPL successful in tapping local talents?
By Binu Paul, SiliconIndia   |   Saturday, 21 May 2011, 04:38 IST   |    18 Comments
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Is IPL successful in tapping local talents?
Bangalore: As the Indian Premier League reaches the playoff phase of its fourth edition, the question remains open as to what extent it could satisfy the fundamental idea of helping to establish the careers of younger Indian cricketing hopefuls. Does IPL still has it focus on nurturing the local talents or has it changed to introducing more foreign players? Mumbai Indians Coach Shaun Pollock said, "I think the idea of the IPL originally was to try and develop local Indian talent and the more opportunities they are given the better it is for them." "At the end of the day when you have gone to the auction, you have chosen your players accordingly to the fact that there's going to be four on the field. It wouldn't make sense to change it now because that was what you made your selections on," he added. It should be noted that the teams that outplayed others during the last editions where the ones whose local talents had contributed consistently. The credit of winning the second season goes to the local players of Deccan Chargers, not the overseas cricketers. While the known talents like Yusuf Pathan, Murali Vijay, Ambati Rayudu, Manoj Tiwari, Ravindra Jadeja, and Pragyan Ojha proved their skills over the years in IPL, many a good number of local boys have been discovered in the last four seasons. The IPL products like Saurabh Tiwary, Naman Ojha and Ravichandhran Ashwin have already positioned themselves in a strong position and the ongoing version has discovered talents like Paul Valthaty, Rahul Sharma, Sreenath Aravind and Iqbal Abdulla. Former Indian Captain Mohinder Amarnath opined that IPL should penetrate more states and be more inclusive of local players who can be of great help to Indian cricket. "This (IPL) should be planned according to the changing trends. I would be very happy if it is played at the state level with the local players getting to play with overseas players on a regular basis," Amarnath said. However, many are of the opinion that the quality of the game is deteriorating and the enthusiasm is slowly fading away. Unlike the previous editions, not many talents are coming up this time where only a few names continue to perform. The television ratings for the fourth edition of the IPL have fallen sharply. The average rating for the first 37 matches of IPL's first three seasons was 4.81, and this has dropped to 3.26 in IPL-4. The IPL should not become a tournament for the foreign players or the big Indian stars; rather it should remain as the perfect ground for the local players to raise their standards. IPL also is a principal avenue of learning for the young Indian talents as they are being identified, nurtured and groomed by the best ones in the world of cricket. The governing body of the Indian T20 league should stick on with the four foreign players format so that more of our youngsters get their chance to exhibit their cricketing skills.

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