Cricket may bring rich dividends for A-list players, but at the Ranji level, the picture is gloomy. Future of ICL talents like Raviraj and Nechim remains grim. Despite the IPL's success, it has not been able to admit domestic-cricketers-in-waiting

I thought I should highlight the story of two young cricketers who took an unconventional decision to survive in the profession that they so dearly embraced as youngsters.


Raviraj Patil (RHB, Mumbai Champs ICL ): The pocket dynamo as fondly rechristened by the Aussie great Dean Jones (while witnessing his courageous innings against some of the best bowlers in the world); has emerged as the mainstay of the Mumbai Champs side, which boasts of names like Nathan Astle, Brian Lara and Dheeraj Jadhav.

Raviraj comes from a modest background from the suburbs of Pune and had to make great sacrifices to take up the game of cricket. A heart-wrenching story is having to take a decision as to who would board the bus to the main city centre (him or his father) as they could afford the fair for only a single ticket. The father saw the young man’s heavy kit bag and made the sacrifice. This was the plight of Maharashtra’s most promising young batsman who had broken Sachin Tendulkar’s school batting record. He was the captain of the Maharashtra under-17 and under-19 teams. After scoring heavily at the under-19 level, Raviraj found himself left in the oblivion with no place in any Ranji side. He even left Maharashtra to try his luck with the Baroda Ranji side, but, that too did not yield any results. This was despite the fact that promises were made to him after his heavy scoring at the club level. He almost wanted to quit the game in disgust when the ICL happened and the rest as they say is history. The man who found it difficult to pay a rupees 20 fair to go for practice is the proud owner of two flats today, in the same area he grew up in. The promising Champs’ batsman today drives around Pune in his prized possession, a Santro car.


Abu Nechim (fast bowler, Royal Bengal Tigers): Nechim comes from a remote part of Assam. One of the few rare fast bowling talents of the country, Nechim has performed creditably for India at the under-19 World Cup having single-handedly destroying the English batting in the crucial semi final. The recently concluded ICL season saw the ’slinger – Tiger’ (rechristened due to his classical side arm action) clock over 140kmps at the young age of 20 years).


A story full of struggle has seen Nechim reach practice facilities by hanging off public transport systems as he could not afford the fair. The only relief was when the conductor would have his back to him. This gave Nechim the opportunity to grab a seat. His prodigal talent would have seen him as an automatic selection at the hugely successful IPL and when queried by a local journalist if there was a hypothetical chance of his playing in the IPL, pat came the reply from the erosive pace man, “Only if the ICL is recognised and there is a merger between the leagues, still given a preference I would continue to play for my ICL team.”


The above two stories are not about any Tom, Dick or Harry; it is the story of two of domestic Indian cricket’s promising talents; this shows that till the ICL came about, domestic Indian cricket was not in its best shape. It kick-started the IPL where the stories of Dhinda, Ghoni and Asnodkar were reflections of the rise of Patil and Nechim at the ICL.


The relevance of the ICL is best exemplified by the fact that Ghoni got a chance in the Punjab Ranji side only after Luv Ablish (Chandigarh Lions, ICL) shifted alliance to the ICL. Therefore, if Ablish had not made the move IPL would have not seen a Ghoni. Probably, Dhinda would have also been sidelined if Nechim was available for selection for the Kolkata Knight Riders.


This proves the point that the ICL has a role to play in domestic Indian cricket and uplift of its domestic cricketers. The IPL despite its success is finding it difficult to accommodate all the domestic Indian players and will need the ICL to pass on the benefits of T20 cricket to all its domestic cricketers.