Vidharba, MAHARASHTRA :
Nagpur :
Faiz Fazal has always been a free-flowing player. He has all the shots in the book.
In fact, during his Under-19 days, he was known to be one of the talented stroke players in the country. His highest score in limited overs cricket at the Under-19 level was 181, which came against Railways. However, with responsibilities in the Vidarbha fold, he had to curb his natural instincts. He became the mainstay of Vidarbha batting right from his first season.
Despite scoring 912 runs in the latest Ranji Trophy, Faiz didn’t get a look in for the IPL. However, that hasn’t stopped him from performing well. The Vidarbha skipper is in blazing form during the ongoing DY Patil Twenty20 tournament in Mumbai, where most of the IPL players are playing.
Faiz, who plays in the Times Shield and DY Patil Twenty20 for Jain Irrigation, is hitting some big sixes. In fact, his power hitting has surprised some of the IPL scouts, who are keeping an eye on their players’ performance. His strike rate in the tournament is currently 253. His brilliant performance has helped Jain Irrigation qualify for the knockouts.
In the qualifier match against Income Tax, Faiz hit 72 in just 27 balls, which had eight sixes and two fours. “He hit some big sixes. Most of the hits were sixes in any ground in the world. It’s just pure bad luck he couldn’t get into any IPL team. Maybe this performance can remind talent scouts about this different aspect of his batting. This is a quality tournament where you get good bowlers,” a talent scout, who doesn’t wish to be named, told TOI on Thursday.
He had watched Faiz’s knock against Income Tax. Incidentally, Faiz got out to Vidarbha allrounder Himanshu Joshi.
The tournament, which is generally prelude to the IPL, was postponed as the BCCI preponed the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Trophy. Now, it’s acting as a preparatory tournament for the IPL. In the first match of the main draw against Reliance 1, Faiz scored 31 in just 13 balls, hitting four boundaries and two sixes. He took India Under-19 pace sensation Kamlesh Nagarkoti to cleaners pulling him for a six and four. He also smashed Punjab seamer Baltej Singh for a six and four in the first four balls. Reliance 1 also had the Kerala seamer Nidhish MD, India Under-19 spinner Ankul Roy and leg-spinner Rahul Chahar.
Former India stumper Kiran More, who is part of the Reliance support staff, was all praise for Faiz’s aggressive display. “He played extremely well against us. There are a lot more permutations combinations in the IPL. There are many international players who didn’t get to any team. Teams know what and who they want and you need to fit into their requirement,” More told TOI.
“Faiz is good, compact player with a solid technique. He has all the shots in the book. If he performs like this, he will surely get his chances. He has played for the country so he knows what it takes to get there. Sometimes you need a bit of luck going your way. I don’t see age will be an issue for him,” More added.
In the second match against Air India, the 32-year-old scored 34 in just 16 balls with the help of four boundaries and two huge sixes. Jain Irrigation won both the matches by comfortable margins. These knocks are perfect answers to those who only term him a four-day player.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> Sports News> Cricket News / by Ruchir Mishra / TNN / February 25th, 2018