Modern Cricket is blessed with so many talented youngsters. The decade has seen the likes of Dale Steyn, Ben Hilfenhaus, Steven Finn, Mohammad Aamer who have made the lives of batsmen more difficult. While at the later stage, pinch hitters like David Warner, Craig Kieswetter and Kieron Pollard have maintained the dominance of bat to ball. Some players always remain in the cover page for their game or celebrity status. While some others have failed to become popular in the media despite of their heroic deeds. Let’s have a look at some players of this under-rated group.
Morne Morkel: Morne Morkel is an important part of South Africa’s impressive raw pace attack. An out-and-out fast bowler who has the pace and height to trouble the best. The ability of the lanky fast bowler to extract bounce and bowl genuinely fast, impressed Allan Donald. Unlike his brother Albie Morkel who is a famous All-Rounder and a regular part of the South African ODI and T20 team, elder Morne has not got so many opportunities due to frequent injuries. He is a regular part of the Proteas Test squad, but remains an underdog due to the presence of Dale Steyn who is currently the no.1 ranked pacer in the world.
But both his attitude and physical strength have been his plus points. In the last series against India, Gautam Gambhir, the then no.1 ranked Test batsman, was found struggling against his height. Though Steyn dominated again in that series, Morne Morkel succeeded to show his impact, 92 wickets in just 26 test is enough to speak about his talent.
Nuwan Kulasekara: Nuwan Kulasekara of Sri Lanka was ranked the number one bowler in one day internationals not that long ago. He made an instant impression in his first ODI itself, against England at Dambulla in November 2003. From a bustling run-up and whippy open-chested action, he generates lively pace, moves the ball off the seam and can reverse-swing the ball. Most importantly though, he can maintain a tight line and length. Apart from bowling, his remarkable contribution with the bat lower down the order has proven to be quite handy at times though he has not been tagged as an All-Rounder. A maiden test fifty against England at Lord’s in 2006 is well known for his fans. Though he is not a regular part of the Lankan Test squad, he has been the main bowler for them in the ODIs for the last two years having bagged 94 wickets in 79 matches averaging 28.92 with an economy rate of 4.52 and an impressive S/R of 38.3. Despite being the no.1 pacer, he was ignored during the IPL-2 auction by all the teams which proves his under-rated status.
Tamim Iqbal: Bangladesh Cricket has not advanced a lot. They are still in the learning phase and seems to be improving. They have succeeded to maintain their Test team poster mainly because of one player i.e. Tamim Iqbal. He is the key to getting Bangladesh off to a flier at the top of the order. The left-hander is regarded as one of the most exciting prospects in Bangladesh cricket and is arguably the hardest hitter of the cricket ball in the country. His elegance and style through the off side is a treat to watch but his trademark shot is the straight drive, capped with a text-book like follow-through. Indian Cricket fans will never forget his counter attack against Zaheer Khan which led his side win in the 2007 World Cup first round match knocking out India. Like his team mates, this 21 year old is not so famous for the continuous loss of his team. Though he has not an extra ordinary average, he has proven his worth when it matters.
Robin Uthappa: Tall and robust Robin Uthappa was the highest scorer in the 2006-07 Ranji season. Though being a wicketkeeper-batsman at one time, Uthappa has since given up the big gloves to concentrate on batting, and now occasionally bowls medium pace.
As a batsman he has always been attractive to watch, hard-hitting, with every shot in the book, unafraid to hit the ball in the air. The shots that he played against Brett Lee straight over his head can be hardly seen by any other batsman. He has also been a useful member of the Indian under-19 team that won the Asia Cup as well. The extremely skilled boy scored a well-paced 86 at Indore on his ODI bebut against England early in 2006 when he got a chance to play in place of out of form Virender Sehwag. Besides this, how can one forget his nerveless unbeaten 47 off only 33 balls that helped India seal a rousing win against England on 5 September, 2007.
Although he is a genuine opener, he has batted as a floater lower down the order for India most of the times as opening slots have been taken by others. But he has also shown his talent batting at no.7 as well. The kind of mayhem Robin Uthappa can cause was evident in the IPL and it would be well worth a try to check one more time if he can do the same for India in the ODIs. If need be, he can keep wickets as well. With the failure of Ravindra Jadeja at the top level, Uthappa is likely to play at the crucial no.7 spot in the upcoming 2011 World Cup. Please Click here to check his recent interview
Phillip Hughes: He started his Test career with a four ball duck at Johannesburg, but did not look back further by hitting two centuries against South Africa in Durban in 2009. In addition to his Test call-up, Hughes was the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year, the Sheffield Shield Player of the Year and won the Blues’ Steve Waugh Medal. Pretty impressive stuff for a young man who grew up on a banana farm in northern New South Wales.
There are not many who can score 615 runs in 7 test matches averaging 51.25 with the highest score of 160. He plays T20s for New South Wales with an Average of 48.60, but has not been considered for ODIs for Australia for his comparatively poor S/R. Now he is back in Australian Test squad for the two match test series against India in the coming October after being ruled out due to injury.
Jonathan Trott: Ian Jonathan Leonard Trott has played only 13 tests for England so far, but has shown a lot of promise for the future. He followed in the footsteps of Kevin Pietersen, committing his future to England then becoming an Ashes-winning batsman when he hit a hundred on Test debut at The Oval. The no.3 headache in Tests for England seems to be solved by this aggressive right hander. 1155 runs in 13 tests with an average of 55 and 352 runs in 6 ODIs at an average of 70.40 is enough to highlight his consistency. His highest test score Is 226 against Bangladesh, but out of his three test tons, the last one of 183 at The Lord’s in the recently concluded series against Pakistan, is the best. Despite tremendous talent, he is not in the news so much, reason best known to the media.
Saeed Ajmal: Pakistani off spinner Saeed Ajmal is a useful contributor for his team in all three forms of the game. At the age of 30, the off spinner received a call-up to the Pakistan squad for the Asia Cup. But after that he has used all the opportunities given to him.
He made an immediate impression with his subtle clever variations, unafraid to use the doosra. But his career took off with a series of ODI performances that bewildered Australia in Dubai and Abu Dhabi where he gave away a few runs and his doosra was highly unreadable. Once the ICC called him for suspect bowling action. But the pressure didn’t get to him and immediately after, he played a vital role in Pakistan’s 2009 World T20 title. He used to bottle up the middle overs with Shahid Afridi regularly. He ended the joint second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament, with an exemplary economy rate as batsmen around the world struggled to attack a big turning doosra or his changes in flight, pace and angle. The economy rate of slightly more than 4 in ODIs, is the proof of his tight bowling.
With the inconsistent performance of Danish Kaneria, the regular leg spinner of the Pakistan Test squad, Ajmal has cemented his place now in the test squad too after the remarkable show against England in the last series. But unlike the contemporary spinners like Harbhajan Singh, Graeme Swann, Daniel Vettori etc, he is not so famous.
Scott Styris: All rounder Scott Styris has been a consistent performer for New Zealand over the years, but still remains an under-dog. Originally a seamer, a knee injury forced him to take his batting more seriously, and he switched from being a bowler who can bat into being a batsman who occasionally bowls.
He has scored 4056 runs from 169 ODIs for the black caps averaging 32.70 with the highest score being 141. As a bowler, he has taken 128 wickets as well from these ODIs with an average of 34.87, economy rate of 4.74 and S/R of 44.0. But due to frequent injuries,he has managed to play only 29 tests. In a bid to prolong his career in the limited-overs formats, he announced his retirement from Tests in February 2008. With the 2011 World Cup drawing nearer, Styris’ experience will be vital for the Kiwis at the sub-continent.
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