Arguments over the merits and demerits of the Impact Player rule have raged ever since its introduction during IPL 2023, but Abishek Porel is unlikely to be drawn into them. He owes his IPL breakthrough to this rule.
At the start of IPL 2024, it seemed unlikely he would get much game time. With Rishabh Pant back as wicketkeeper and captain, Porel was fighting with Kumar Kushagra, for whom Delhi Capitals broke the bank with an INR 7.2 crore winning bid, to be the team's second wicketkeeper. DC also had Tristan Stubbs.
But when they were in dire need of momentum in their tournament-opener at 138 for 7 against Punjab Kings, Porel got his chance. He came off the subs bench and blitzed an unbeaten 32 off 10 balls to take DC to 174. That cameo made such an impression that Porel ended up playing all 14 games, and DC's then head coach Ricky Ponting went on to call him a " very special talent ".
"Ponting said, 'Just believe in yourself.' When a legend like him motivates you, then obviously you are moved," Porel tells ESPNcricinfo. "Pant also told me, ' Tu kar sakta hai [You can do it]'. Personally, I also felt like I just had to perform this time."
It wasn't Porel's first brush with the IPL. He had been part of DC's squad in 2023 too, having been picked out of a trial in which the franchise looked at six other keepers. Porel remembers being intimidated just being around the coaching staff when he arrived for his first training session.
"I was definitely nervous seeing Ponting," Porel says. "But he was a down-to-earth person, and helped me understand [things] well. Moreover, once I was in Delhi, Ponting, Sourav [Ganguly, director of cricket] sir and Shane Watson [assistant coach] were guiding us nicely, and treating me like one of their own. If there is anyone who knows me today, it is because of DC and Sourav sir."
Porel finished IPL 2024 with 327 runs including two match-winning half-centuries and a number of useful cameos. He struck his runs at 159.51, which put him behind only Jake Fraser-McGurk and Stubbs, and ahead of Pant, among the DC batters who scored at least 200 runs.
"I was just prepared for the opportunity," Porel says when asked if the prospect of fighting for a spot with three other wicketkeepers was intimidating. "The fight was always with myself, because it is me who is my competitor. I knew that if I performed well, I would be able to keep my place."
He particularly enjoyed batting with Australia's rising star Fraser-McGurk, with the two adding 176 runs in three first-wicket partnerships. Their run rate of 14.46 was the best of any opening pair with at least 175 runs that season.
"He seemed to have that magic bat from Chain Khuli ki Main Khuli (a Bollywood movie from 2007)," Porel says with a laugh. "He was swinging it in all directions, and I kept turning my neck to watch the ball fly on both sides of the ground!"
As a left-hand batter from Bengal, there's little doubt who Porel idolises. "I obviously want to be like Sourav sir," he says. "If I end up achieving even a percentage of what he did, then that would be massive. I really like his debut Test hundred; I have watched highlights of it multiple times."
The Porel of 2024 is confident and clear about what he can offer. This sets him up nicely for the upcoming season, where it's likely he'll play as a specialist batter for Bengal with Wriddhiman Saha back in the fold after two years away at Tripura.
Porel broke through in 2022 only because of Saha's departure. And like Saha, whose journey from Siliguri to Kolkata is well documented , Porel has walked a long road too, from Chandannagar, a quiet city in the Hooghly district of West Bengal, to Kolkata and beyond.
That Porel is firmly established as one of Bengal's rising stars is a source of extra delight for his extended family, with first cousin Ishan a key fast bowler in the team's attack alongside India Test players Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep.
"It was when dada (big brother, here referring to Ishan) was representing Bengal Under-14 and Under-16 that I also started getting interested in the game," Porel says. "He took me to the National Sporting Club in Chandannagar, where I met my childhood coach for the first time."
Barely 11 then, Porel did not have it easy at first. Sometimes he'd have to wait until sunset, when other, older batters would finish, to get an opportunity. He would unfailingly grab his chance.
He was "a step ahead of his peers", according to Parthasarathi Bhattacharjee , who was Porel's coach when he played for the Bengal Under-23s. But long before that, Bhattacharjee had been impressed by his ability as a puny teenager, when he captained Porel at the Bhowanipore Club.
"Abishek could play some terrific shots," Bhattacharjee says. "People at that age are usually defensive, but he was always gutsy. He was dominating even the senior bowlers, never giving the impression that he had come over from Under-16s."
In 2021-22, as Bengal's captain in the Cooch Behar Trophy, Porel smashed 716 runs at an average of 89.50 and a strike rate of 82.11 in six games, including three hundreds.
It led to his name doing the rounds among the junior selectors, and when five players from the Under-19 World Cup squad contracted Covid-19 in the Caribbean, Porel was called up as a reserve.
"I was really upset when I hadn't got the call-up for the original squad," he says. A chance in the playing XI eluded him, but he took away quite a lot from the experience. "I understood what it means to tour, and got a feeling of what it means to represent the country."
Upon his return, circumstances helped Porel break through in the Ranji Trophy. Saha had left, and Shreevats Goswami wasn't in the scheme of things anymore. Porel's first-class debut was a baptism by fire. Bengal were shot out for 88 on a Cuttack greentop by Baroda, but Porel made 21 off 19 balls.
Then, in the second innings, Bengal were 242 for 6 chasing 349 when Porel joined Shahbaz Ahmed. They added an unbroken 108, of which Abishek scored an unbeaten 53 off 70, as Bengal sealed victory in what remains his "favourite match".
"We won, and to score runs in that situation - and that too on debut - was special," Porel says. Bengal made the semi-finals, and Porel scored 303 runs at an average of 33.66 that season, including three fifties, to repay the faith shown by Bhattacharjee, who was then part of Bengal's senior selection committee.
"[Arun] Lal ji was the coach then, and even he told me that he had rarely seen such stroke-making and fearlessness at that age," Bhattacharjee says.
That match was also memorable for other reasons. On the first morning, Porel teamed up with his cousin as "c Porel b Porel" made its first appearance on a first-class scoresheet.
Porel made enough of an impact in that first season to earn a Duleep Trophy call-up - he scored an unbeaten 50 against North Zone in his only game - but he hasn't yet translated his promise into consistent big scores at the first-class level. He currently averages 33.50, and has scored just the one hundred in 23 games.
It's early days still, of course, with Porel only turning 22 in October, but it's possible he may not enjoy the standing he has today without that opening as an impact sub in IPL 2024. "Life has certainly taken a jump," he says. "People in Chandannagar have started recognising me."
How is Porel preparing for the new season and the prospect of teaming up with Saha again? "Now that Wriddhi da is back, I can chat with him [about my game]," Porel says. "He is like my own dada , and a guide to me. Even during the IPL, he tells me I can speak to him if I face any problem.
"I aim to play all three formats for India - and play regularly. If I get 1000 runs in first-class cricket for two seasons in a row, and hit 500-600 runs in the IPL, I believe a door will certainly open for me."
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