Kolkata: The day has come for players from across the globe to go under the hammer and play their part in the world's biggest cricket league, the Indian Premier League (IPL).
We have often heard of players who do not play orthodox cricket. Among those are ambidextrous cricketers, very rare though. Sri Lanka's Kamindu Mendis was one of them, who stunned all by showing equal ease as a left-arm orthodox and right-arm off-break bowler a few years ago.
Now the much-hyped Indian Premier League auction being held in Dubai will see another on the platter from Bengal. Twenty-two-year-old Kaushik Maity, who has equal ease in bowling left-arm orthodox and right-arm off-break has been listed among the players for whom Mallika Sagar, the IPL auctioneer for 2024, will raise the hammer.
As 10 teams will be vying for over 325 cricketers in Dubai on Tuesday, there are big names and surprises galore. Teams will be desperate to pay their sky-high prices. But we can expect a flurry of interest in the "ambidextrous" cricketer from Bengal in the IPL auction, which is currently underway.
Besides being a spinner, Maity's speciality in cricketing skills is that he can bowl with both hands. One never knows whether he can go the miles to make history and replicate Mendis' fear of being an ambidextrous bowler to be part of international cricket. But for the time being, he is sure to create the frisson in the cash-rich league provided he gets picked by one of the 10 franchises.
More importantly, many cricketers can handle the ball with both hands but not in competitive cricket, barring perfect ambidextrous Lankan Mendis. The 25-year-old Mendis played one Test and seven ODIs for the island nation since 2019.
Cut to Kolkata, Kaushik has achieved the feat by bowling with two hands in club cricket as well as for the Bengal team. He took the wickets bowling with both hands. He made his debut in the Bengal jersey in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he claimed three wickets against Punjab. Kaushik also represented Bengal in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy (the domestic T20 tournament).
Maity got a wicket with a right-arm off-break and came back to snare another couple with his left-arm orthodox. He has naturally caught the attention of IPL teams as well. Kaushik attended the camp organised by the Rajasthan Royals and took four wickets in the practice tie.
He also received praise from legendary cricketers Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting during his stint in the camp of Delhi Capitals. Although he was invited to the camp of Kolkata Knight Riders, he could not attend as he was busy playing for Bengal in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
However, if Maity fails to make the IPL cut, he will be far from being disheartened. as he wants to make it bigger by representing Bengali in the national arena.
"I am on the auction list. Even if I don't make the cut it will not be the end of the road. I will try to polish my skills more playing for Bengal," the Ravichandran Ashwin fan told ETV Bharat.
Maity has another catch. Coming from a modest background, Maity had to overcome quite a few hurdles. Maity's father has a pan masala shop and he lives with his parents and an elder brother. Kaushik's parents raised him by running a small pan masala shop. This time Kaushik wants to make his parents smile by making a name on the cricket field.
Currently, Kaushik's income from cricket and the income from his elder brother's job support the family. Maity's love for cricket grew after seeing former India skipper Sourav Ganguly. Later he was more inspired by the cricketing skills of modern-day greats Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli.
After passing secondary school, he took a break from his studies and took up cricket. Now, the twelfth-standard student has planned to earn academic qualifications in distance education mode. He is under the supervision of Bengal coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla and assistant coach Saurashish Lahiri. Both these former cricketers make certain adjustments to their bowling to suit the situation.
About his interaction with Ganguly and Ponting, Maity wants to scale the height sooner rather than later. "Both Sourav sir and Ricky sir gave me valuable pieces of advice, which I will try to execute in the future to become a better cricketer," Maity added.
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