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Mithun Beerala
Mithun Beerala is one of the bright young hopes to come out of the
amply endowed Karnataka stable. With his father, B Raghunath, having
opened the innings for Karnataka in the 1970's, Beerala took to the
game as naturally as a duck takes to water. Having spent a year's
apprenticeship, without playing a game, in the Karnataka squad which
won the Ranji Trophy in 1998-99, the slightly built 22 year old made
his first class debut this season and filled the breach created by the
absence of Rahul Dravid and Vijay Bharadwaj by stringing together a
series of effervescent knocks. Stepping into the breach at the top of
the order created by Sujith Somasunder's acute loss of form, Beerala
made an immediate impression with 83 and 94 on debut against
Andhra. There was no looking back after that as Beerala went on to his
maiden hundred against Delhi in the Super League en route to 617 runs
at 51.41.
Beerala shows a refreshingly positive approach, like his idol Michael
Slater, and looks out for every opportunity to keep the scoreboard
moving. He certainly tries to stamp his authority from the onset and
is not the kind who will hand over the initiative to the bowler. A
fluent driver through the off side, both on the front and backfoot,
Beerala also revels in the square cut and the drive off his legs. He
sometimes gives the impression of being impatient to get on with the
game and you get the lurking suspicion that he could be hustled into
an error by some tidy bowling. A very level headed person, Beerala has
his feet planted firmly on the ground, and knows that he has to
maintain a level of consistency over a couple of years or more before
he can catch the eye of the selectors.
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