A fine cricketing lad

After Delhi Daredevils retained Shreyas Iyer, Siddhesh Lad will be one of the hot picks among the Mumbai batsmen in the IPL auction, along with teenage sensation Prithvi Shaw. Lad has emerged the most reliable Mumbai bastman this season, and he has carried on his Ranji Trophy form to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 tournament too. All eyes are set to be on him with the IPL auction being held in Bengaluru on January 27 and 28.

Lad, who will be in the uncapped Indian cricketers list, will have another opportunity to impress. Because he, along with other Indian domestic players, will be part of the ten-team all India Twenty20 event, which will see two best teams from five zone. The event will be starting in Kolkata from January 21.

By playing a few knocks in crisis situations last season, Lad became a certainty in the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team. At the end of this first class season for Mumbai, he emerged as the most consistent batsman for Aditya Tare led side, and also top scored for 41-champions, with 652 runs in seven matches, at an average of 50.22. He scored two hundreds and three fifties. Mumbai, however, couldn’t make it beyond the quarterfinals.

“This year, I think motivation acted as a factor. My work ethics and focus allowed me to be more consistent,” said the 25-year-old right-handed top order batsman.

After the Mumbai squad, with a few new faces assembled for the West Zone Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 in Rajkot, Lad carried his form to the shortest format. He started the tournament with 82 against Baroda and then came up with crucial knocks of 20, 38 and 25, to help build partnerships after losing early wickets.

“After we lost in the quarter-finals, we were disappointed. There was still time left for the domestic Twenty20 tournament, so I played in two Times Shield matches during that time. I played positively to get into the T20 frame. Scoring a 64-ball hundred and 75-ball 128 gave me confidence. We had a practice session after that, which helped,” he said.

“I always possessed the natural ability to play shots, but mentally I am executing my strokes better now. Also, earlier, I used to bat down the order, so I didn’t have time to get enough runs. The field during that time too us spread out and there are no easy boundaries. But now I am batting up the order, there is more responsibility on me and I name enjoying it,” he added.

Mumbai, despite losses to Baroda and Saurashtra, just about managed to qualify by finishing second in the League on superior net run rate. Their win over Gujarat and the annihilation of Maharashtra were enough to see them through after Gujarat upset Saurashtra in the last league game.

“We have a good and talented squad. The IPL auction will be added motivation but I want to win it for the team. We have not done well in limited overs cricket and it is an opportunity for us to go the distance,” he said.

Lad has been with IPL franchise Mumbai Indians for previous three seasons but never got to play. He doesn’t mind if Mumbai Indians pick him again. “I know Mumbai Indians set up well and Wankhede is my home ground so it will be good if they pick me again. But after having done well through out the season I want to be in the playing XI,” he said.