Baba Indrajith, the talented cricketer from Tamil Nadu, is yet to break into the Indian team despite scoring runs consistently in domestic cricket across all formats.
In the recent edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), Baba Indrajith scored an unbeaten 96 off 49 balls (11×4, 5×6) to help Dindigul Dragons chase down 172 against Lyca Kovai Kings with five wickets and four balls to spare during the league stage.
Baba Indrajith particularly spoke about two shots he played in that innings. His first shot was a six off medium-pacer Yudheeswaran in that innings. His second shot was a four over fine leg for a four off medium-pacer M. Mohammed.
“I didn’t practice at the net for that. I hit it instinctively. I played it (that shot) because I instinctively knew that I would hit it. I rely on my instincts. “I practiced scooping a lot for one season. It was a phase. But after that, I realised that it came out well when I played it naturally straight in the match. That’s why I don’t practice those kinds of shots too much in practice sessions,” Baba Indrajith was quoted as saying by Sportstar.
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After dealing with many ups and downs in his life and throughout his cricketing career, he said that he has started to accept things. He has been scoring runs consistently for his state team. In the 2018-19 season, Indrajith was the leading run-scorer for India Green with an average of 74.50 in just three innings. In the 2021-22 Ranji season, he once again finished as the leading run-scorer for Tamil Nadu with an average of 99 in four innings.
However, in the most recent Ranji season, 2023-24, he had a standout season where he scored 767 runs in 13 innings at an average of 69.72 with two hundreds and four fifties as Tamil Nadu reached the semi-finals for the first time since 2016-17. Despite producing runs consistently, the cricketer is said to have not received enough recognition.
Losses, falls and failures have affected me: Baba Indrajith
“There was a phase where I didn’t play cricket for seven months because of my injury and other things. And it has happened to me a couple of times. So, to come out of that phase and play the Ranji season was a big deal. And when you do well, it’s a different kind of disappointment when you don’t get the break,” an emotional Baba Indrajith told Sportstar.
“I am a very emotional person. When I am successful, I don’t get too emotional or anything like that. But when there is a loss or disappointment, I just go into a deep recession. It doesn’t just happen in cricket, it happens in life as well. That has affected me a lot – the falls, the losses and the failures. I wanted to manage my emotions better. So, I started focusing a lot on yoga and stuff like that,” Baba Indrajith continued.
The cricketer said that he is now a very tempered person as he has started practising yoga. He also spoke about how he has been practising it in the last nine months since the last domestic season.
Despite being a top scorer for Tamil Nadu in domestic cricket, Baba has never found his groove in the IPL and neither has he in international cricket. He played two matches for KKR in IPL 2022 where he scored 21 runs with a best knock of 15.
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