India's young guns make their mark in IPL

PLACE FOR NEW TALENT: IPL has given lesser-known Indian players a chance to play with the best.

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Keywords: Indian Premier League, Cricket

New Delhi: There are countless young cricketers in India chasing a dream and waiting patiently for their day in the sun. Until recently, not many have been able to make it to the top, with the Tests and One-Day Internationals being the only avenues.

But now the game has opened up and its latest version, the professional Indian Premier League (IPL), has rewritten the rules of the game. A new crop of younger players is hogging the limelight.

Manpreet Gony, Ashok Dinda, Abhishek Nayar and Wridhiman Saha would not have been known outside their own restricted zone unless they got into the national reckoning. But the IPL has made them the exciting new talent of Indian cricket.

Halfway through the inaugural Twenty20 tournament, the little known domestic stars are not only rubbing shoulders with the big stars of international cricket but are also the sought after.

The emerging talent from the IPL may or may not be dominating Test or One-Day cricket, but they will be part of the big IPL show for some more years.

Here are some of them:

Ashok Dinda:

Ricky Ponting finds him the most promising local talent in Kolkata Knight Riders. That's something coming from one of the best-rated batsmen in the world. Dinda has already proved the Australian captain right.

The lean, hungry-looking young man could be an aberration for a fast bowler, but Dinda can surprise batsmen with the speed he generates with a whippy action and the leap before delivering the ball. The young man from Naichanpur village near Kolkata has consistently bowled at 140 kmph, raising quite a few eyebrows.

Sourav Ganguly is known to spot talented players and backing them. He has shown immense faith in Dinda and no wonder he gives the new ball to the latter, not to that new pace sensation Ishant Sharma.

Dinda has lived up to the expectations of his captain, giving important breakthroughs in almost all the matches, picking up three wickets against Deccan Chargers.

"He is a great prospect. I picked him up from nowhere for a Duleep Trophy game in 2005. He has pace and he can swing the ball," said Ganguly.

Dinda's coach Atal Dev Burman worked on his basics and thinks he should be going far.