In a way, age was a bar when it came to India. The experienced players went unsold after the first round of bidding. The big Indian names that were avoided were Cheteshwar Pujara, who recently expressed his will to play for a franchise; Ishant Sharma, old warhorse Irfan Pathan, Saurabh Tiwary and RP Singh among the bigger names. It is surprising considering the international experience they possess.
With Pathan, one feels he has lost the zing and because most teams are trying to inject young blood, it seems Irfan Pathan was neglected at the auctions.
Ishant Sharma is undoubtedly an experienced pacer, but he often leaks out a lot of runs and considering the short format where even an over—or rather, a ball—could turn the tide in either way, being economical is of utmost priority.
Talking of India’s number 3 in Tests, Cheteshwar Pujara is a classical batsman but what is required in T20 is out-of-the-ordinary cricket, improvisation and street smartness as a key element to success. So if teams are looking for somebody to play the sheet anchors role then he may be considered. But keeping the format in mind, you do not want somebody to play a run a ball innings rather score at better than run a ball.
This left-handed batsman from Jharkhand, Saurabh Tiwary has been a part of the first edition and was rated highly at a certain point of time, but then he faded away quickly. Reckoned to be a big hitter, the hits never came, the misses increased. That was that.
A part of the 2007 T20 WCI, Rudra Pratap Singh is a fairly good swing left arm bowler, but again his case seems to be the age, franchisees are looking to inject fresh blood and hence his chances take a backseat.
