Swapnil Asnodkar Batsman, Goa & Rajasthan Royals Three matches, 131 runs, SR: 131
Mumbai Indians didn't pick Swapnil Asnodkar, robbing viewers of a simulation of the great Sanath Jayasuriya-Romesh Kaluwitharana combination. Rajasthan Royals did, and if anyone was likely to spot the Kalu from Goa, the ultimate cricketing backwater in India, it had to be Shane Warne, who knows a thing or two about suffering at the hands of that Sri Lankan team of the mid-nineties. Out of the blue Warne unleashed him on the unsuspecting Kolkata Knight Riders and Asnodkar responded with a match-winning 34-ball 60. For six years now, Asnodkar has been scoring runs consistently in Indian domestic cricket, but it's been in the Plate League that usually manages to escape the scanner of even the most ardent followers. For the last four years, he has been Goa's leading run-getter. And last year he took it one level higher: smashing 640 first-class runs at 71.11, including his highest score of 254 not out. He also featured in the Challengers last year, although without any impact. Under a leader who can put an arm around a player and make him feel worth much more than he might be, and in a format that gives him the license to pull out the shots from the first ball, Asnodkar has come into his true self. "I had told him [Asnodkar] that his chance would come," Warne said after the Kolkata match, "when the opposition is not expecting him to play and we will throw him in as a surprise tactic. I have done a lot of work with him in the last couple of weeks. He was fantastic." Anything on the good length, and just like Kaluwitharana he rocks on to the back foot, ready to cut or to pull. He has followed the shock 60 with 32 and 39 in his next two games, and his team now has started trusting him as a regular opener. "He is an outstanding talent and we always had faith in him,'' says Darren Berry, the chief cricket officer of the franchise. http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ipl/content/story/350685.html Picture of Swapnil: http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/india/content/player/26782.html ~(^^)~ Avelino