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Shib
Shankar Paul: The New Bengal Tiger on the Prowl |
A Feature by Karthik Narayan
At a time when the Bengal tigers are getting
extinct, in comes the news of an all new roaring
tiger in the game of cricket, in the same Royal
Sense as our traditional Bengal Tiger. In many
ways he is similar to the Tiger as he roars with
the seam of a cricket ball, and rages to take on
the challenge of bowling to top order batsman in
the Domestic circuit.
Shib Shankar Paul was
waiting for the Selector’s call as much as
anyone else, but with supreme performances in
this year with India A, he deserved that call
unlike no other to represent India; the 2004
season has been outstanding work by this right
arm medium pacer.
Born on November 4, 1981,
in Tufanganj, Bengal, this youngster has been
the blue-eyed Star in the current Indian
Domestic season, capturing as many as 50 wickets
in just 8 matches and that speaks volumes for
his immense talent. He made his First Class
Debut for Bengal on Nov 19, 2000, against
Tripura at Eden Gardens, Calcutta, which has
been his prime Fort lucky ground; he has 22
wickets there (maximum on any ground for him!).
After playing in that
season (2000-01) with 14 wickets, he played only
3 games in the year 2002 for Bengal, in which he
did not make any impact, barely got 2 wickets.
and failed to capitalize on his good start in
his debut season. The next season was also quite
ordinary for Shib Shankar Paul.
Shib Shankar Paul was an
unknown cricketer in the circuits until 23rd
November 2003 when Bengal faced Tamil Nadu at
the Indian Cement Company Ground, Tirunelveli,
Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy. In that
particular game for Bengal against Tamil Nadu,
he pounced on the TN batsmen making them
struggle to survive, with his nagging line
outside the off stump. Under the Captaincy of
Devang Gandhi, this bowler, nicknamed “Macho” by
his teammates, dispatched the TN Scorecard back
to the cleaners, by clean wiping 7 batsmen for a
mere 44 runs in 24.1 overs. Tamil Nadu followed
on in that game, and managed to salvage a draw
by playing better in the second Innings, not
before that youngster Paul again continuing the
torture with 3 more wickets.
In just as many as 22
First Class games, he has 88 wickets with 8 five
wicket hauls, and 2 ten wicket hauls in the
matches. His average of 24.23 is on par with any
world class bowler, which means he dries up the
runs and also picks up wickets. So it is miserly
bowling as an addition to striking with the new
ball, which in anybody’s book ranks as
magnificent.
His current Domestic
Season in the International First Class Arena
has also been sublime. He represented India A
when they toured Zimbabwe in Aug 2004, and he
simply deformed the Zimbabwean batting; stamped
his superiority in the Zimbabwean innings with
figures of 6-46 and an equally good 6-56 in the
second, thus enabling India A to win by 10
wickets. No prizes for guessing who deserved the
Man of the Match, if there was one! He has also
captured a handful of wickets in the Triangular
Tournament in Kenya earlier this year, featuring
Pakistan A and India A. He took 13 wickets in
that series for India A.
He is one of the few
players for Bengal called up by the Indian team
along with Rohan Gavaskar in the last few years.
Shib Shankar Paul’s forte has been bowling
wicket to wicket with the away swinger being his
stock delivery. He is a bowler who does not
fancy the gimmicks of experimentation. He just
sticks to the basics and produces results time
and again.
He is not an express fast
bowler, but an intelligent bowler who uses the
seam of the cricket ball to the maximum possible
extent, more in the medium pace category in the
McGrath school of fast bowlers. He relishes and
thrives on the challenges and thoroughly enjoys
bowling.
The selectors could not
have made that surprise call to Paul at a better
time; the timing has been perfect, right when
this talent galore bowler has been peaking. His
performances have indeed been appealing and he
caught the eyes and attention of all of us, for
what he has in store for Indian cricket if he
dons the Indian colors, it could solve our
perennial problem of the back up bowler.
India Cricket currently
with sagging sprits and drooping shoulders
really needs the spark of this chirpy young
cricketer. Paul is definitely the face of the
future, who is capable of changing the phase of
Cricket in a matter of minutes. We at
Cricketfundas.com wish this newcomer to
International cricket all the very best.
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