The Indian Express | 1 week ago | 26-05-2023 | 11:45 am
Before the Indian Premier League auction in 2022, the Mumbai Indians team management was in two minds, whether to release uncapped medium pacer Akash Madhwal. Their dilemma was understandable, the seamer had not quite set domestic cricket on fire. At the age of 28 then, he was not too young either.The coaches sought the feedback of their talent scouts, and one of them insisted on giving him more time to blossom. He did not feature in a single game last year, but in an injury-wracked season this term, he was handed out a debut and justified the coaches’ faith with 13 wickets in seven games, including remarkable figures of 5/5, the best-ever in an IPL playoff match, in the Eliminator against Lucknow Super Giants.Madhwal is not alone in Mumbai’s long list of players plucked from obscurity, from maidans to distant corners of the vast country, unusual talents that could have withered away unseen and unspotted. None bigger than Jasprit Bumrah, arguably the finest pacer India has ever produced. His rise to fame is well documented: how the scouts wanted to track another cricketer and stumbled onto a youngster with a wispy beard and quirky action. The discovery is widely credited to John Wright, but there is an entire network of unseen hands and eyes that track talented youngsters across the breadth of the country, apart from ex-cricketers such as Parthiv Patel, R Vinay Kumar, Kiran More, Rahul Sanghvi, RP Singh, TA Sekar along with Wright, who rejoined the franchise this year after missing the last season due to COVID-19.Sensational! 🔥🔥Akash Madhwal bags a FIFER & Lucknow Super Giants are all out for 101 #TATAIPL | #Eliminator | #LSGvMI pic.twitter.com/pfiLNkScnz— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 24, 2023Not just Bumrah, the list of finds is long and includes the Pandya brothers Hardik and Krunal, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal and Nehal Wadhera. It’s not that they keep track of only youngsters. They also keep an eye on experienced ones who are flying under the radar, like Piyush Chawla who has been a revelation this year, and the already established ones like Tilak Varma and previously Ishan Kishan.They are like pearl divers, who plunge into the depths of vast oceans to discover precious but muddy stones and hand them over to the gem-polishers who cut them into glittering stones. Their hard work and relevance is not lost on Mumbai Indians’ captain Rohit Sharma.“Mumbai Indians is a ‘Superstar Team’ because the franchise puts in the efforts to make it so. We made a lot of effort to make the superstar team and superstar players. We turn these players into superstars. Our scouts work really hard. They saw Hardik, Krunal, Bumrah and Axar and brought them here. We turned them into stars. The scouts deserve more credit,” Rohit said in an interview on JioCinema.“It is very easy for people to say that it is a superstar team, but there is a lot of hard work behind it. A lot of appreciation has to go to the scouts. Scouts work hard during the off-season while spotting talent, and so many of them have gone on to play for the country.”Other teams also have talent scouts of their own, but none can boast of the stature in the MI structure – which includes a former India coach (Wright), former BCCI chief selector (More), the finest left-arm seamer India has produced (Zaheer), and the likes of Parthiv, Vinay, Sanghvi, RP Singh and Sekar who have such extensive experience in domestic and international cricket. Unsurprisingly, no other franchise has come even close to replicating MI’s record in unearthing and refining unseen and unheard talents.The processThe simplistic definition of their role involves talent hunting. But it is more than that. The IPL is a two-month jig, but their job is all-year round. Formally, it starts the day the Indian domestic season begins. First, they prepare a chart with the help of former India pacer Zaheer Khan, the director of cricket operations. Then they disperse to watch different tournaments— from U-16 to U-19 and senior cricket, their eyes reach everywhere. They will collect data about those who impress them and could be invested in long-term, before they begin to track their progress.Rohit Sharma shutting up mouths casually, very RO way to do it. And look how confident and proud he is about Mumbai Indians finding these gems & them having a great future ahead.RO & MI will keep winning matches, hearts, talents & respect. My Captain 💙 pic.twitter.com/H7tmOUkwlo— Shrutika Gaekwad (@Shrustappen33) May 24, 2023It is not like they recommend these youngsters straightaway. They keep tracking the player for the next two-three seasons, with a data team in tow. They will ensure they don’t speak to the players, instead they take feedback from umpires and support staff, apart from relying on their own judgement and discretion.READ: How Rohit Sharma’s advice to be carefree propelled Akash Madhwal to do wellThe primary trait they search in players is whether they are match-ready, whether they are able to handle pressure, how they react to different situations, and their performances in crunch games. If they feel one is ready, the name is handed over to the coaches, who will call him for selection trials, closely watched by head coach Mark Boucher, Zaheer and other support staff.If one manages to impress them, the name is put forth to Rohit and later the owners, who trust the judgement of the scouts completely. For instance, the scouts had kept track of Tilak Varma’s performances and attitude for three years before deciding to acquire him. They also watched Chawla, who had gone unsold last year, extensively before drafting him this year. And, he is their leading wicket-taker in the 2023 campaign.Family feelingOnce the player is on board, passing through all the filters and tests, he is treated as part of the Mumbai Indians family. The team management keeps in touch with him every month. If he gets injured, he is treated for free at the Mumbai Reliance hospital. Their recovery is directly overseen by the Mumbai Indians’ trainer and physiotherapist, who keep providing updates to Zaheer.If he is not playing any cricket, they are flown to Mumbai where they could practise and stay in the in-house facility in Navi Mumbai. A Ganapati Pooja is performed at the start of the season. If there is a wedding in the Ambani family, which owns the franchise, designer clothes are specially stitched for them. A special box of Jamnagar mangoes is sent to each member before the monsoons. The set-up is robust and with efforts to nurture a family feeling.Madhwal’s surge is yet another testament to the scouts’ judgement and vision – he also busts the myth that Mumbai is a team that assembles expensive players at auctions rather than nurturing them – and the perfect time to reflect on the unseen labour of the people behind the scenes, who spot the first spark of a superstar.
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