In this episode of 'Free Hit', a series of exclusive video interviews with players, officials and TV pundits from the IPL, Boria Majumdar chats with former India cricketer and chairman of selectors MSK Prasad.
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00:00You've watched domestic cricket so closely and you've given India so many players.
00:04If I were to ask you, who are the players you need to watch out for in this edition of the IPL?
00:09Give me a sense who, in terms of youngsters, I should watch out for.
00:16Hello and welcome to this very special edition of Free Hitler and Golf News with my very dear
00:21friend, former chairman of selectors, MSK Prasad, former India international. He has watched cricket
00:26as closely as anyone has in his capacity as chairman. So, that's where I want to go to today
00:33and pick his brains from that standpoint. You've watched domestic cricket so closely and you've
00:37given India so many players. If I were to ask you, who are the players you need to watch out
00:42for in this edition of the IPL? Give me a sense who, in terms of youngsters, I should watch out for.
00:47Well, if you're looking at youngsters, I will definitely, you know, with the postponement of this
00:56proposed T20 World Cup which was supposed to be held in Australia, it has opened up many other doors.
01:03Like, nobody expected that. Had it been on schedule, maybe Mahe wouldn't have retired.
01:09That he would have opened and kept it open. Since this has postponed to the next year,
01:18we are fortunately blessed with two back-to-back IPLs. All those players who are in the fringe,
01:24it's a wonderful, wonderful opportunity for them. Apart from the regular established cricketers,
01:30I personally feel that some of the guys whom you should watch out for in this edition of IPL will
01:36be Prithvi Shah. To start off with, because he is still not an established player. So much of things
01:41that went on in his personal life and his fitness. There are so many things that he has gone through.
01:48So, it's a great opportunity for him. Because he has got two IPLs. Two wonderful back-to-back IPLs.
01:56And there is always a discussion happening whether Shikhar is a certainty
02:00in the upcoming World Cup. With KL Rahul and Rohit, almost like certains. But whether Shikhar
02:08is a certainty. So, Shikhar also has an opportunity. And like any other youngster, he also has got an
02:13opportunity to play next two IPLs and set the tone for himself. Well, I will still go with
02:21these youngsters like Prithvi Shah and Subban Gill. Another guy who really made a lot of impact
02:25in last year's domestic cricket was S.S. Vijay Swal. He was phenomenal. At a young age of 17 years,
02:32getting a double hundred in a Vijay Hazare, by any standard, it's not an easy thing. He must be having
02:38some potential to achieve such a brilliant feat. I doubt whether anybody else in the world
02:44would have achieved that. Another guy whom you will… Because I have very high regards for this particular player,
02:51Padikkal. Devdutt Padikkal from Karnataka. I will give a small example, Boria. We were watching
02:59T20 matches in Baroda, in the Mushtaq Ali tournament. KL Rahul was batting. So was Devdutt Padikkal
03:07was batting. And KL Rahul is somewhere around 11 or 12 runs and this guy gets his 50 and he goes out.
03:14Whole world knows what KL Rahul is, what kind of a T20 player that he is. But someone like a youngster
03:21coming out and overshadowing him and moving past beyond him is something we should look up to.
03:30Because he is also an additional… Why I am clearly, specifically mentioning about Devdutt Padikkal
03:35is that he is also left-hander. He is a tall guy, youngster, who is just 19-20 years. So, one more year of…
03:43Last year, he made a big impact. If he can make another big impact in the upcoming two IPLs,
03:48he will definitely be a hot contender. This is why you are special. I have watched Devdutt Padikkal
03:53and I found him extremely exciting. I watched him in KPL first. I watched him in India under-19
03:59when he smashed at the top of the order. He is a supremely exciting person. You have watched MS3,
04:05you have watched him captain, you have watched him very closely. No Suresh Raina, no Harbhajan Singh,
04:1013 COVID cases, retirement. How will MS Dhoni take to this IPL? What do you expect of him?
04:17Well, every adversity always throws a hero out of the situation. Someone like Kapil Dev at 17 for 5.
04:24I don't even think even 1% of the people would have expected that he will go on to get 175 in that situation.
04:30He has not only set the tone for the Indian team, but he has set the tone for Indian cricket history
04:37in the shorter formats. This is a good, wonderful opportunity for the next level guys. Especially,
04:43there is a guy called Rituraj Gaikwad. He is a phenomenal player. I will give a small example.
04:48Because we picked him for the India A tours. We had a one-day series against Sri Lanka A.
04:54He got 170 or 180 and he finished the game. It was 300+. He just finished the game in
05:01hardly 40 overs. So, we were chasing 330, hardly 40 overs. That is the kind of potential this kid
05:08possesses. The absence of superstars, it's a boon for the youngsters to make a mark for themselves
05:14and set the tone for their careers. I know, knowing what Dhoni, Dhoni has made superstars out of
05:20youngsters. Whether it is R Ashwin or Jadeja or Suresh Raina. They were just youngsters.
05:32Youngsters with, yes, definitely some potential. But he actually moulded them and made them
05:38superstars. I have not even 1% doubt that the next level guys will be the biggest gainers
05:45pulling out of these two senior games.
05:48If I ask you about Virat, how important is this? I mean, 970 runs in that edition,
05:54multiple hundreds. But not an IPL trophy to show for Australia series coming. If he wins the IPL,
06:00he will go in that incredible mindset to be father. Everything is happening for that man.
06:05He just needs that one big break of one tournament as leader. How important is this?
06:09Virat as a captain for Indian team, he definitely did extremely well in test formats and one-day
06:16formats. There has always been a comparison between Virat and Rohit and MSD, which is pretty
06:22natural. It is pretty natural when someone can give you 3 or 4 IPL championships. So, you will
06:28definitely have to look up to someone, some other guy. Things keep evolving with time. Time doesn't
06:35wait for anybody. Yes, it is pretty long time. 8 to 10 years is a pretty long time not to win the
06:43IPL championship for a team like RCB. Here, there is an advantage for Virat because there are many
06:51instances where RCB did extremely well with their bat. They got 200, 230, 240 runs. They still went
06:58on to lose the game because of the placid wicket that Bangalore offers. Now that they are out of
07:03those 7 matches, every time they step into their home, of course, the home crowd always supports
07:08them. More than the host, it is the visitors who actually enjoy playing well in Bangalore. So, now
07:13there are absolutely no complaints on that aspect. It is a neutral venue and it is a love-all-and-play
07:19for everybody on a different surface. So, it is a good opportunity. I think, for Virat, I feel that
07:25this is the best thing that happened for him. The kind of mental state that he is in and perfect
07:31mental state. Borya, I don't know whether you remember, we were also discussing about
07:37how much his body has gone through in the last couple of years. And this is the best break,
07:44I think, Virat would have prayed for. It has come in a pandemic form but I think,
07:50he will be in the best possible mental state. Nothing like winning an IPL championship and
07:57getting into the Australia tour. If I take you to Australia, do you think India should go in
08:01with about 20-23 players and somebody like Shreyas Iyer will also look at the IPL? He is
08:06a certainty at number 4 now but to also make the test team to push himself a little bit more in
08:12the white-ball format. Somebody like Akhil Rahul already there as wicket-keeper, wanting to make
08:17a test comeback. Australia, huge tour coming. Sourav Ganguly tells me milestone series. How
08:23should these players treat the IPL with a view on Australia? IPL will definitely test their fitness
08:29levels and maybe they might be rusty that they have not been playing cricket for quite some time.
08:33But 60 days with so many matches, with 14 matches each for each team is good enough
08:40opportunities to set themselves and get into a perfect form. That's why I say that since we are
08:48going from Dubai to Australia, it's a wonderful opportunity for all these fringe players to
09:01establish themselves. You never know this. Like we have already discussed that you never know
09:06someone like Parikkal or someone like Prithvi Shaw or Yashaswi Jaiswal can stake their claims
09:12with their consistent performances. Someone like a Navdeep Saini MSK?
09:16Somebody who is unearthed? Just talking about batsmen. So when it comes to bowlers,
09:21Navdeep Saini or a Deepak Chahar or a Khalil or a Prasidh Krishna or a Ishan Porel, I think these
09:27are the guys whom you can look at in this edition of IPL. Because I am still not sure, if Bhuvi and
09:36Bumrah are certainty and Hardik as your all-rounder. So if you pick one more seaman, it will be
09:42somewhere between Saini or Deepak or Khalil or Prasidh or Porel or even Mahmood Shami also.
09:49Had it been as per the original schedule, Shami would have been a certainty. But with two IPLs
09:55coming up, with still one more year older for Mahmood Shami, whether he is a certainty for the
10:00next T20 World Cup is a question. We have spoken about bowlers and batsmen. We have spoken about
10:06fast bowlers rather, spin. What is your thought on spin? Will Dubai be very conducive? How important
10:12will spin be in this edition? I was having a chat with Shreyas Iyer. He said the wickets in the
10:16practice arena are slow and low. Will, for example, Delhi, Ashwin, Sandeep Lamichhane, who has had a
10:22great CPL, will spinners have a major role to play and how do you look at spin? Definitely.
10:27There is absolutely no two ways about it. If you see the way the series were played by Pakistan
10:33in Dubai, like Yasi Shah, majority of the time it was their spinners who actually dominated the
10:39show. Whenever Pakistan went on to win any series, it was spinners who played the key role. More
10:44importantly, with so much of sources available, resources available, if you actually think that,
10:54if I have to name the list of spinners like Jadeja, Chahal, Kuldeep, Washington Sundar,
11:01K Gautam, Rahul Chahar, Ashwin, Ravi Bisnoi, Abhishek, there's so many, so many, the list is
11:11on and on and on. That's why I'm saying it's a wonderful opportunity for them, all these people,
11:15because they have got two, two wonderful platforms to establish themselves. Because if you see last
11:21year IPL, Rahul Chahar was phenomenal. Everybody started appreciating. They were even saying that
11:27slowly this kid has to be groomed into the other formats also. The revolution that he offers to
11:33the ball and the speed with which ball and with the spin that he imparts, he gets the spin out
11:40of the pitches. I think they were rating him pretty high. So if he's properly groomed, he's
11:44also one of those guys who will give a run for their money, even for a guy like Chahal established.
11:49It's a wonderful, wonderful competition, healthy competition that's going on between the spinners.
11:55After quite a few years, MSK Prasad will watch the IPL without the burden of Chairman of Selectors.
12:02So how are you going to watch this year's IPL? You tell me that. Last four, four and a half years has
12:07been a pretty tough time. IPL is the only time where we used to actually sit in the house and
12:14watch. In 10 months in a year, we used to travel and two months we used to sit and watch with the
12:18family. So this edition also will be no different from that. Only thing that you know, you might not
12:23see a lot of crowds or you may not get an opportunity to take your family to Hyderabad and
12:27show them some matches. Because Hyderabad was very close to my hometown. So we used to go
12:32as a family and watch a few matches. That's one thing that we will be missing. But having said
12:37that, I think credit should definitely go to BCCI and also our governing council who made,
12:44you know, it has taken so much of pain in going ahead with this edition of IPL. It's not easy.
12:51There's so many theories going on that, you know, why did the people go ahead with the IPL?
12:57Why not a domestic cricket? There's so much of pros and cons to it. The big heads of BCCI
13:02have put their minds together and they went on. And I wholeheartedly appreciate that effort.
13:07Thank you very, very much for joining me once again on Free Hit. I will pick your brains as
13:12time progresses, as the tournament progresses. Because you are one of those people who will
13:17always give me interesting insights into Indian cricket going forward. Thank you very, very much
13:21for joining. One more point. I think we were talking about fast bowlers. One person whom I'll
13:26definitely mention here is Prasidh Krishna. He is also one of those guys who... Because
13:32one important point I would like to bring here is Rohit Sharma. Once when we were discussing,
13:38you know, Rohit Sharma, he told me that, you know, Anna, after a long time,
13:43I've seen some Indian fast bowler hitting my gloves. So, that speaks it all.
13:51Thank you so much, MSK. Thank you so much.
13:54My pleasure. My pleasure, Professor.