Vadodara: He created history when he became the first player in the country to reach the 2,000 runs milestone in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy (SMAT) this season. Baroda skipper, Kedar Devdhar didn’t just play some brilliant knocks but also took his team to the finals displaying some fine captaincy skills.
And Devdhar is expecting that the Indian Premier League (IPL) teams will finally sit up and take notice of his consistent performance in the shortest version of the game. “I am hoping that at least in this year’s auction, some team will pick me up. I played some good knocks and became second highest run getter by scoring 349 runs from eight matches this season,” Devdhar told TOI.
The 31-year-old, who opens for Baroda, played a smashing innings to score an unbeaten 99 from 71 deliveries against Maharashtra. But when the target was low, Devdhar controlled his strokes against Chandigarh and scored an important 44 runs off 41 balls. What made his performance special this season was that Baroda team had suffered two setbacks during the tourney.
Vice-captain Deepak Hooda had walked out of the team on the eve of the tournament due to differences with skipper Krunal Pandya. And Krunal had to leave the team after three games as his father had passed away. “I took up the mantle of skipper and told the boys to play their natural game. It was important to instill confidence in the team,” Devdhar said.
The wicket-keeper batsman was picked up by Deccan Chargers in 2011 where he was included in playing 11 for just one game. After that season, Devdhar couldn’t make it to any other team. Despite being highest run scorer in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy three seasons ago, no team noticed his performance.
“I was disappointed as such BCCI tournaments are organized for players to showcase their talent. I don’t know why I was ignored by the IPL teams despite performing well with bat. May be, they had different requirements as per their team combination,” he added.
“Devdhar is a skilled batsman who can open the innings and keep the wickets too. He would be an asset to any IPL team as he is a thinking cricketer. I hope that he makes it to the IPL this time,” said Shishir Hattangadi, CEO, Baroda Cricket Association (BCA).
Devdhar began playing cricket at the age of 14 and picked up cricketing skills at Hindu Gymkhana before switching to Alembic Company.