Odd-team-out
Interestingly, there is one team in the IPL that has a few old-timers. Bangalore Royal Challengers, on the advice of former Indian captain Rahul Dravid, have drafted in a few 30-plus domestic cricketers. Karnataka regulars Sunil Joshi, J Arun Kumar, R Vinay Kumar and Thilak Naidu are the rare domestic seniors in the IPL. But there are a few in the cricketing fraternity who feel this is a step backward.
UP coach Gyanendra Pandey, who for years had been on the fringes of international cricket himself, jokes about how he desperately wants to be 21 again and be a part of this cricket boom. But he comes across as someone who is not a big supporter of the presence of the ‘domestic giants’ in the IPL. “In order to get ourselves a professional set up, we can’t grudge the juniors getting money. Say someone like Sunil Joshi, he doesn’t have many years left in him. So there is no point in sticking to players like him,” he says.
So the jury is still out on this perennially touchy senior-junior issue. At the end of the first season one will come to know if domestic old hands are a better buy than teenagers with a junior World Cup champions tag. In case the Royal Challengers do well and the likes of Joshi have a big role to play, mind-sets may change. That might mean doors will open for the likes of Muzumdar, Kulkarni and the others in the coming IPL seasons.

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