Grappled with injuries, Baba Indrajith vows to return with a bang
470 runs in nine innings at an average of 78.33. Baba Aparajith is smashing the bowlers to smithereens in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, helping Tamil Nadu having a monopoly of their own in Group C. Indrajith, however, had to be contained checking the scores on his phone, being proud of his brother.
Injuries are the worst occupational hazards for any sportsman and it is never a great sign to be grappled for so long when the world waits to see the best. Always haunted by the perception of “other Baba twin” on Tamil Nadu cricketing circuit, Indrajith, who despite having an enviable domestic stats against his name, has left to rue his luck when a shoulder injury kept him out of the team for the Vijay Hazare Trophy. That, he was the captain last year and his performance duly resulted in the Duleep Trophy and India A selection, the timing of the injury was bound to hurt even more.
“My comeback depends on my progress. I surely can't say when I will be back, but by mid-November, I guess I should be back. Get back to Ranji Trophy and keep on scoring runs and try and get into India 'A' squad and do well there is my main motto now,” Indrajith told SportsCafe in a passionate tone, waiting to get back what is rightfully his.
For a casual Indian cricket follower, Indrajith might come across as a pale shadow of his twin brother, who ever since his exploits in India’s U19 World Cup triumph in 2012 has been a star name among the masses. While Aparajith has often blown hot and cold, with occasional highs accompanied by pretty brutal lows, Indrajith has always been a silent run accumulator for the team.Â
Last year, with Vijay Shankar out with the national duty, he was entrusted with the responsibility of leading the Tamil Nadu side. The top job landed on his shoulders especially because of his performance in the 2017-18 season, when he hit a stoic double-hundred in the Duleep Trophy debut before smashing Mumbai bowlers to all parts of the ground for a memorable 152. Those two innings gave sneak peek to Indrajith the batsman’s immense potential and he hasn't looked back ever since.Â
“There are going to be a lot of international cricketers from here, to be leading a side for this team is a huge honour. It is a lot of responsibility and is a different challenge. It’s not like every time you go out there it’s going to be easy for you, you will be facing a lot of challenges, on and off the field so and it’s a different challenge for me but you improve as a cricketer when you take responsibility.”
The confident and statesman-like approach that Indrajith induces at the moment was a complete contrast to his mindset seven years ago when he failed to make it to the India U-19 team for the World Cup. Aparajith won the Man of the Match in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, but Indrajith was crying inconsolably after the snub. The realisation that it all happened for good and he was sparred of the limelight dawned long after and Indrajith is at peace with himself.
“It was disappointing to miss out on the under 19 world cup but it made me grow and realize a lot of things, you can’t play at the same level at the same time, I understood that after the under 19 world cup so that made me work even harder and I scored a lot of runs in the league which taught me a lot of things and helped me in Ranji trophy as well,” Indrajith said confidently.Â
“Obviously I was hurt. But that was there before. Right now it's not there. During the under 19 days it affected me a lot. But after a point, I accepted the fact that we both are different and we being twins there will always be comparison. It’s very natural but it’s about how we handle it and I won’t deny it, I had that feeling a long back but right now. We both understand that we may not be playing at the same level at the same time as we both are different cricketers and our journey will be different.”
However the duo has never affected their cricket come on the way of their sibling bond, and as much both enjoy and celebrate their own success, they celebrate each other’s success even more. Indrajith is happy that Aparajith is scoring runs and often the proud brother to celebrate his twin's success. Â
“The good thing is that we don’t have any competition between us. It is how others feel so. Once we understood that it doesn’t affect us in any way after that so even while playing it made me tougher. It was very different for us as we played together for a very long time, even when we were kids. For others it might be different, it might be like playing together, how is he playing when the other one is playing at the international (India U19) level. Initially, it did affect me but after that, it became very normal for us.”
Speaking in hindsight is often the best exercise while looking back, Indrajith must be kicking himself in the back for the kind of start he had endured at the start of his career. Only 1124 runs in his first 33 innings in first-class cricket spanned over three seasons of Ranji Trophy wasn’t something really earth-shattering, and it needed a push up for him to break the shackle. A century against Mumbai in the 2016-17 season did the trick as it began a period of success and growing confidence.Â
“Initially, at any level when you go into the setup you need a bit of luck. I didn’t get a good start in Ranji Trophy but after a season it taught me a lot of things, the first season we played games at a lot of turning wickets and that didn’t help me as even when you played well you get maximum 40 to 50 runs. I didn’t get big scores but if I remember correctly on my 10th game I scored a Hundred and from then on, things went really well and it's going really well as of now. Touch Wood.”
He has, of course, come a long way from the time of not scoring runs at all to be one of India’s tallest run-makers in domestic cricket. It is just a matter of time he returns to the field once again, and lead the charge with supreme authority.