The success of several uncapped Indian players has been the story of this IPL. Some of them have gone a step above to emerge as vitalcogs and mainstays of their teams. Sayak Banerjee of The Telegraph takes a look at a few of them:
Yashasvi Jaiswal
Unfortunately, this highly talented youngster will not be able to showcase his batting skills in the playoffs as Rajasthan Royals couldn’t finish among the top four. If Jaiswal fired with the bat, the Royals more often than not won.
Yashasvi Jaiswal (RR) Matches: 14 Runs: 625 50s: 5 100s: 1 HS: 124 Avg: 48.07 SR: 163.61 PTI picture
The 21-year-old left-hander has been the best among uncapped Indian batsmen, showing off his array of strokes which he can play on all sides of the wicket. Irrespective of the nature of the track, if Jaiswal is set, he won’t take half-measures if the ball is there in his arc.
It will be a surprise if Jaiswal doesn’t find a place in India’s T20I squad for the upcoming tour of the West Indies.
Rinku Singh
The 25-year-old could well be given the sobriquet of Mr Rescuer given the number of times he tried to steady the fragile batting of the Kolkata Knight Riders. On almost every occasion, he put the pressure back on the opposition camp and tried his best to take his team home. But some of the equations were so out of reach that the left-handed batter’s heroics fell short.
Nonetheless, what’s undeniable is his calmness even under intense pressure, an important factor that drove him to hit those five sixes on the trot and help KKR beat Gujarat Titans from a hopeless position in Ahmedabad at the start of the IPL season.
At present, Rinku isn’t too worried about an India call-up, but like Jaiswal, he too has a fair chance of being selected for the Windies T20Is.
Tilak Varma (MI) Matches: 9 Runs: 274 50s: 1 HS: 84 n.o. Avg: 45.66 SR: 158.38 PTI picture
Tilak Varma
Impressive in the previous edition, 20-year-old Tilak Varma has shown more maturity this season. Importantly, he gave Mumbai Indians much-needed control in the middle overs when Suryakumar Yadav was yet to regain flow and rhythm.
Besides, Varma is also quite flexible in terms of his position in the batting order, having come out at No.3 as well. So far in this IPL, the left-handed batter has just one 50-plus score, but his 40s and unbeaten 20s in the closing overs have also benefited Mumbai to a fair extent.
He couldn’t feature in all of Mumbai’s matches so far because of an injury, but will surely be in the team management’s fray for the Eliminator against Lucknow Super Giants on Wednesday.
Prabhsimran Singh (PBKS) Matches: 14 Runs: 358 50s: 1 100s: 1 HS: 103 Avg: 25.57 SR: 150.42 PTI picture
Prabhsimran Singh
Punjab Kings once again had an indifferent season as the big names in their ranks failed to click. But opener Prabhsimran Singh, 22, put in a fine effort to prove his mettle and emerged as one of the positives for his side after just playing one game in IPL 2022.
An Impact Player in most of the games, Prabhsimran tried his best to vindicate his team’s faith in him as alongside one half-century and a maiden IPL hundred, he was quite consistent in the Powerplay overs.
Suyash Sharma (KKR) Matches: 11 Wkts: 10 BB: 3/30 Eco: 8.23 PTI picture
Suyash Sharma
For a then teenager — without any first-class or List A experience — to be drafted into a tournament comprising international stars, such figures are impressive indeed. It was a big ask ahead of Suyash Sharma (now 20) as he could have been overwhelmed by the enormity and glitz of the IPL.
But the young leg-spinner kept all that away, showed excellent temperament and stuck to his basics while his arm speed created problems for several batsmen, including those who have done well at the highest level. It’s going to be interesting to see how Suyash goes on after a successful IPL campaign in his debut year.
