IPL Diary: Unknown Monu with few feats and little-known Santner with great feats

By K.R. Nayar

Unknown IPL debutant Monu had played in UAE

On Sunday, Chennai Super Kings introduced medium-pacer Monu Kumar Singh against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Not many have heard of Monu Kumar Singh, and not many people know that he had played in UAE when the Under-19 World Cup was held here in 2014. That was when he had bowled at the Dubai International cricket stadium. Singh had bagged three wickets to bowl out the Papua New Guinea Under19 team for 56 runs at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium and played in the quarterfinal in Dubai against England when India had lost that match. His teammates in that Under-19 team included Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav, and Shreyas Iyer.  Hailing from Ranchi, like his skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Monu has not progressed like his teammates but has been part of Chennai Super Kings since 2018. He is yet to play any first-class cricket but has featured in 23 Twenty20 matches for Jharkhand and bagged 25 wickets.

 ‘Flatline’ Santner is a special cricketer

 New Zealand’s left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner, whom Chennai Super Kings played for the first time in this year's IPL, has created many sensational moments in international cricket as an allrounder.  Though he has been confined to the bench in the IPL until the last match, very few remember that last year he had cracked his maiden Test century while figuring in a mammoth 261 runs seventh-wicket partnership with BJ Watling against England. Santner has many firsts to his credit. He is the first player to make his Test debut in a Day-Night Test match and hit the first ball he faced in Test cricket for a boundary.  Last year he won a game for Chennai in the IPL at Jaipur by hitting a last-ball six against Rajasthan. Despite being busy with cricket, he never gave up studies and took a Mechanical Engineering degree. Despite all his talent, he gives a laid-back impression and that got him his nickname ‘Flatline’.  Till the age of 15, Santner had bowled medium-pace before turning into a spinner, and today produces a variety of deliveries.