After almost one month of intense drama and action, India’s premier domestic T20 tournament, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy(SMAT) is coming to an end with the final scheduled between Tamil Nadu and Baroda. We had plenty of impressive performances with both bat and ball throughout the competition and that, in turn, will help the players in earning a bid at the auction ahead of IPL 2021. While the talks around these mesmerizing shows will continue even after the end of the tournament, there were a few players, who failed to live up to the expectations and faltered miserably under pressure.
The Indian team selectors and even cricket fanatics would have made a note of it and will closely review their performances from here on. In this article, we particularly highlight the batting aspect and look at players, who have not justified that role. Here are the 5 batsmen, who have disappointed everyone at SMAT 2021:
1. Ruturaj Gaikwad
The youngster, who impressed everyone with his mind-boggling batsmanship for CSK in the latter half of IPL 2020, was nowhere near to his best for his state side Maharashtra.
Appointed as the skipper, Gaikwad could only chronicle knocks like 26(19), 15(16), 19(12), 1(3) and 33(31) in the 5 games that he played and his failure was the biggest reason for Maharashtra to not qualify for the next stage.
With the next IPL not too far from now, Gaikwad has to find a way to be amongst the runs and continue from where he left for Chennai, assisting them in securing their 4th title.
2. Rahul Tripathi
This experienced Maharashtra player too struggled with form in the ongoing SMAT 2021. Known for his exploits batting top of the order, Tripathi just couldn’t get going and lost his wickets very early in his innings.
The batsman could manage scores like 5(12), 14(15) and 2(9) in the 3 games that he played and which indeed was enough to suggest his lacklustre batting at the tournament.
KKR, who retained him ahead of the next season surely won’t be amused by such poor display and will like him to return to hard-hitting form before the season kicks-in, providing a reliable batting option at the top of the order along with Gill.
3. Sanju Samson
Picked into the Indian side for the completed limited-overs series against Australia and now appointed as the skipper of his IPL franchise, Rajasthan Royals, life has changed drastically for Samson, who is enjoying some of the most pleasing days in his cricketing career.
He, however, couldn’t make it count at SMAT 2021, being the experienced player in the side. His only fifty-plus score came against Haryana albeit in a losing cause. Rest have been disappointing as his next few scores read 7(14), 16(10), 22(12) and 32(26).
Yet again, the aspect of inconsistency has taken over a brilliant and talented Samson, who has the ability to destroy best of bowling attacks on his day. Given he has been trusted with a huge responsibility at RR, it is now upon the man himself to rectify the flaw and come up as a better version of his impeccable self, leading from the front at world’s most-followed league.
4. Suryakumar Yadav
The right-hander, who was a major attraction in the last season of the IPL for the Mumbai Indians, let it slip this time around for his domestic side Mumbai. It would be safe to say that the man was a pale shadow of his incredible self at SMAT 2021.
Yadav’s scores over the course of 5 games read 22(15), 8(5), 0, 38(19) and 7(9). For a man, who dominated world-class bowlers with his elegance and eye-catching stroke-play at IPL 2020, this show was no lesser to a tight slap on the face.
Cricketing fraternity is quite aware of his capabilities and knows it is one of many failures that a cricketer experiences in his long career. There is no doubt that Yadav will bounce back from the slump and resume his normal routine of slamming runs for fun, putting his team ahead in the crucial encounters.
5. Priyam Garg
A rising talent from Uttar Pradesh, it was a huge honour for Garg to lead his side inspite of the presence of some of the greats of the game like Raina and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The youngster, though, seemed bogged down by the pressure as he couldn’t live up to those massive expectations, either as a player or captain. Garg couldn’t score a single fifty and his best knock was a mere 35 runs off 36 balls, followed by 6(8), 12(16) and 4(8) in the other 3 fixtures.
As all know, these are still early days for Garg, who has a lot to learn and experience going forward. Even his franchise, SRH is aware of this fact and won’t rush too much into making him a batsman ahead of his age and experience.
It is a slow process and teams will definitely bestow him with that space to transform into a supreme batsman, who will be the torchbearer for the Indian team.
