Sachin Baby talks about His First-Class Success and Overcoming Labels

Sachin Baby, often overshadowed by the glamour of the Indian Premier League (IPL), has been a consistent performer in the domestic tournament, Ranji Trophy. Despite being 35, Baby’s hunger for runs has only grown, as he was the second-highest run-scorer in the recent Ranji Trophy group stage, scoring a remarkable 830 runs from 7 matches.

“In the early part of my career, some people labelled me as a white-ball cricketer. I wanted to prove them wrong, and I am glad that I have done that. My hunger for runs keeps me going,” he added.

Reflecting on his journey as a cricketer, the ace batter acknowledged the early success that branded him as a white-ball specialist. However, to prove his critics wrong, he has successfully transitioned into becoming a prolific first-class batter, hitting the most number of centuries (14) for Kerala.

“Sreesanth played the highest level of cricket. Unfortunately, he was banned for some (seven) years. Then he made a comeback to first-class cricket at 39 and performed well before quitting. Sreesanth’s never-give-up attitude was a huge motivating factor for me,” Baby told The Times of India.

The left-handed batter also spoke about the importance of valuing one’s wicket and refraining from T20-centric approaches in longer formats.

“I know cricket is changing. But your T20 approach will not work in the Ranji Trophy. It might come off once or twice, but if you play 10 innings in a season, you are bound to fail in the other eight. Our batsmen should learn the importance of spending time at the wicket. The best example is Akshay (Chandran). He showed tremendous application and got useful runs,” the cricketer added.

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