Future of Indian cricket – The Baba twins

The Baba twins – Baba Aparajith (L) and his brother Baba Indrajith

When we hear the phrase “twins to have played international cricket”, the only names that comes to our mind is of the legendary Waugh brothers – Steve Waugh and Mark Waugh.

After sharing a womb, they shared the Australian dressing room for a decade too. The Waughs have set the benchmark for others during their playing days.

The fraternal Waugh twins (non-identical twins) remained as the idol for all the young and aspiring twins who are working hard to represent their country in the future.

Not many cricket pundits will bet on a new pair of twins to emulate the Waugh brothers. But for those who follow Indian domestic cricket and Tamil Nadu Cricket Circle closely, it will be an easier task to put their money on two identical twins – the BABA twins – to surpass the Waugh twins.

One half of the Baba twins, Baba Aparajith is a popular one who has represented Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy, domestic List A cricket, featured for India A and also played an important role in India’s 2012 Under-19 World Cup triumph.

Aparajith is a dependable batsman who reads the situation well and plays accordingly, along with bowling right-arm off-breaks. The other one, who is elder to Aparajith by just 12 minutes, Baba Indrajith is a promising cricketer who is a top order batsman and bowls leg-breaks. Both these young lads are safe fielders and proven match winners in their short careers so far.

Their journey began as early as when they were 4 years old. Their father, Dr. KN Baba (who has also served as a doctor for the Indian cricket team) took them to bat and bowl in a nearby field and arranged coaching for them due to his busy schedule.

Those days they were playing under the Thiruvallur District Cricket Association (TDCA) before moving to Chennai where they did their schoolings. They were lucky to be a part of St. Bedes School that is well known for producing some talented cricketers. This had a significant change in the lives of these young kids.

As I am following these two since their childhood days, it was evident to me that initially, Indrajith showed more promise than Aparajith. He was also made the skipper of the Tamil Nadu Under 16 and Under 19 teams in which Aparajith was a member.

Indrajith even led his teams to title wins in the South Zone competitions. But later, Aparajith determined to work hard to emulate his brother and succeeded in doing so.

Aparajith made it to the Under 19 World Cup squad but Indrajith, who was in the provisional squad, was left out of the main team. It really came as a surprise to me when I saw Indrajith being left out of the squad.

He did help Aparjith via phone, advising him how to correct the mistakes he committed in any game. Aparajith even went on say that it was Indrajith who helped him during the World Cup where he narrowly missed the Player of the Tournament award to William Bosisto.

Baba Aparajith

There has been no rivalry between the two as they try to complement each other and better their own performances. At present, Aparajith is a part of the Indian Under 23 team that has won the Under 23 Asia Cup and is training hard to prove himself in the upcoming Ranji season.

On the other hand, Indrajith is busy calling the shots in the ongoing Buchi Babu Invitational Tournament where he is representing TNCA President’s XI. He has outshone the likes of Badrinath, Dinesh Karthik, Mohd. Kaif in the tournament. But with his performances in the Buchi Babu tournament, the time’s not far when Indrajith will share the Tamil Nadu dressing room with Aparajith at the earliest.

Sometime back, Aparajith even said, “We want to become the first twins to play for India. It is a very tough ask, but we know we are capable of that. We want to be known as the Baba twins. Yes we admire the Waugh twins—Steve and Mark a lot.”

He also added that, “For a batsman to be called a successful one, he has to do well in the Tests, ODIs and T20s. Only then can he stake his claim to be a good batsman.

“We are in no hurry to make it to the national side. We are prepared to take one step at a time. Firstly we would like to gradually make our presence felt — first earn a slot in the India A side and take things to the next stage thereafter,” said Indrajith.

With the consistency the Baba brothers show, I strongly feel that they will represent India in the future.