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Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Hawk-eyed scouts try to spot the next Sky, Bumrah
During this tournament, various scouts from IPL teams play pivotal roles in spotting the next generation of stars across the country
Come the white ball season, and it’s time for the 10 franchises of the cash-rich India Premier League to start hunting for talent as they know that the shortest format of the game is the best suited to their plans.
Top Indian cricketers discovered through IPL talent scouting include Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, and Tilak Varma, who were all identified by franchises like the Mumbai Indians. Other examples include Abhishek Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who impressed scouts with their performances in domestic and youth tournaments before becoming IPL stars and making it to the national team.
The process is still on and the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, country’s premier domestic T20 cricket competition, perfectly serves as a critical talent identification platform for IPL franchises. During this tournament, various scouts from IPL teams play pivotal roles in spotting the next generation of stars across the country.
Nowadays, Lucknow has been in focus of these scouts as the city is witnessing the Elite Group A matches, involving defending champions Mumbai Indians, Kerala, Railways, Vidarbha, Assam, Andhra, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
One can see former UP captain and pacer Ankit Rajpoot (for Kings XI Punjab), bowler Mritunjay Tripathi (for Delhi Capitals), former India U19 skipper at the World Cup Ravikant Shukla (for KKR), PS Negi (for Gujarat Giants) Karanveer (for RCB) spotting talents on the two grounds of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.
“In fact, each scout has a distinct focus and set of responsibilities, contributing collectively to building the franchises’ future squads. We are the frontline observers during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy here and our primary responsibility is to watch a wide range of matches and identify raw, upcoming talent across teams from different states,” said one of the scouts on Monday, preferring anonymity.
“For sure, I focus on young players who show natural flair, athleticism, and skill sets that can be groomed for high-intensity, franchise-based T20 cricket. I pay close attention to promising batsmen who excel under pressure—those who score quickly yet smartly, using innovative shots suited for the T20 format,” he said.
However, he said that there is no certain directives to see batters, bowlers etc. “I watch only talent, especially bowlers, who have variations, pace, and control under different conditions. A bowler with a good yorker, slower balls, or a sharp bouncer often catches my eye,” he said, adding, “Wicketkeepers demonstrating sharp reflexes and quick decisions also stand out.”
Another scout said that he was more focused on young players, especially bowlers, who are challenging cricketers like Team India’s T20 skipper Suryakumar Yadav (for Mumbai) and Sanju Samson (for Kerala) here.
“Few youngsters have been bowling well against batters like Sky and Samson and they really impressed me here. In a T20 game, even raw talent can do wonders against the top and established players in the world,” he said.
He said he sends daily reports to his franchise about the talent, explaining all aspects of an individual’s game. “It’s exciting to scout talent and you never know when these talents will be part of the Indian team,” he said.
He also accepted that besides the excitement, scouting talent fetches him good money. “Undoubtedly, it’s quite exciting as many talents remind me of my early days in the sport, and this job also fetches me good money so the joy becomes double,” he added.
