2017 IPL auction: Pace lands Basil Thampi in Gujarat Lion's camp

KOCHI: "Pace is pace yaar", is a phrase made famous by Pakistani cricket fans, smug about the rich fast-bowling resources their teams have had at their disposal. T20 franchises across the world would attest the saying. They need speedsters who could consistently touch the ninety-mile mark, not for them the dibbly-dobbly military medium stuff. On a day when England rookie Tymal Mills was picked for 12 crore rupees, a pacer from Kerala also made merry in the IPL auction because of his genuine pace.Right-arm seamer Basil Thampi was picked by the Gujarat Lions for 85 lakh rupees, more than eight times his base price of 10 lakh rupees.
"I did not have much expectation, to be honest, it was a pleasant surprise," Basil told TOI from Pune where he was attending the senior Indian team's camp as net bowler. Surprising it might be for Basil, but eyes have been trained on him ever since his good showing in the zonal league of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s, in which he picked up eight wickets in five matches. He was selected into the south zone team for the inter-zonal phase of the T20 tournament. Though the numbers were not out of ordinary, the 23-year-old had done enough to warrant attention as the call-up to the senior team nets showed.
Basil rates the 2016-17 season as a breakthrough one. "I would say this has been a turnaround year for me. I have become more consistent and a lot of credit should go to Tinu Yohannan (Kerala coach). He told me to never compromise on my pace. Another person who I would like to thank is my Viswajith sir who brought me to cricket when I was a kid," said the Perumbavoor lad.
Like many Kerala boys, Basil was almost off to the Gulf for work a few years ago, before he could realise what his true potential was. "I wanted to quit cricket at the age of 19 as I wanted to work in Dubai and support my family. It was my coach and former Kerala player CM Deepak who made me change my mind," said Basil.
"I had to talk a lot to make him understand his potential. At U-19 level, there weren't many quicker bowlers than Basil," Deepak told TOI. Deepak and his Swantons club took the initiative to send Basil for one-month training at Chemplast CC in Chennai where former Kerala players Tinu Yohannan and Ajay Kuduva were coaching. "He got to bowl at players like Murali Vijay and they were impressed with his speeds and were asked to bowl in the Tamil Nadu nets. He started believing in himself since then and after that, he got the opportunity to join the MRF Pace Foundation," added Deepak.
Basil's strength has been his ability to bowl 145 plus. Also, he has got a good yorker. In T20s and one-dayers, the slog overs you can't survive with a good yorker and Basil can bowl one at will. In the last one-and-a-half-years, we have worked on his fitness to and he trains a lot harder now," said M Senthilnathan, chief coach at the pace foundation in Chennai.
But for Basil, the auction turned out to be disappointing one from a Kerala perspective as six other players who were part of the pool - Rohan Prem, Vishnu Vinod, Sandeep Warrier, CV Vinod Kumar, Fabid Ahmed and Asif KM - were not picked.