Kolkata, Apr 16
The IPL is the premier destination for the world’s best T20 talent. Hundreds of thousands of people pass through the turnstiles to watch MS Dhoni finish games with sixes, Virat Kohli score centuries, and Jasprit Bumrah nail yorkers. Alongside, an important trend has emerged this season: the rise of the uncapped Indian players. In the first 30 games of the season, the average impact of uncapped Indian players is 22.19 points, which is a 30% increase over last season (17.16), according to ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats.
Of the three players to have won multiple Player-of-the-Match awards this season, two are uncapped Indians. The first player – and the only one not named Bumrah – to have bagged a five-wicket haul this season is an uncapped Indian. An uncapped Indian is also challenging Kohli for the orange cap – remember, Ruturaj Gaikwad is the only uncapped Indian to have topped the IPL run charts over the years, having done so in 2021.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have had uncapped Indian bowlers doing the job for them while Punjab Kings (PBKS) have turned to uncapped Indian batters for a lift-off. The Impact Player rule has also contributed to more opportunities for uncapped Indian players. Here are six, who have sparkled in IPL 2024 and promise more for the future.
Mayank announced himself in IPL 2024 by becoming the first player in the history of the league to win the Player-of-the-Match award in his first two matches. The 21-year-old’s victims included Jonny Bairstow, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green and Rajat Patidar, who recently made his international debut for India.
The sheer pace with which Mayank took out Maxwell and Green at the Chinnaswamy Stadium set the pulse racing. Mayank’s scorching pace – he can repeatedly top 150kph – even reminded Maxwell of Shaun Tait in his prime. Former Australia allrounder and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) coach Tom Moody was so impressed with Mayank that he felt the tearaway would be “in the conversation” for the upcoming T20 World Cup. But an abdominal injury has somewhat tempered the buzz around him for now. Having picked Shashank for his base price of INR 20 lakh at the last auction, PBKS tried to offload him before they clarified the situation on social media. In his second game for PBKS, against Gujarat Titans, Shashank did the heavy-lifting and then finishing, roles that Liam Livingstone might have been tasked with had he been fit. Shashank, 32, clubbed an unbeaten 61 off 29 balls to bring a chase of 200 within Kings’ reach after they were 111 for 5 in the 13th over. Those who had pilloried Shashank during the auction were now singing praises of him and PBKS for picking the right man.
Shashank produced another power-hitting display in his very next innings, against SRH, taking on the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Pat Cummins, but PBKS narrowly fell short in their chase this time. After years of toil in domestic cricket, Shashank has finally stepped into the IPL limelight. Ashutosh, who had played only 15 T20s before making his IPL debut this season, has formed a deadly tag team with Shashank. They have forged stands of 43 off 22 and 66* off 27 so far. Then, even without Shashank at the other end, he made a sparkling cameo – 31 off 20 balls as an Impact Player – against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on an evening where no other PBKS player struck at more than 150. Ashutosh’s future was uncertain when he was dropped from the Madhya Pradesh team in 2020, but he has found a new home at Railways and now PBKS in the IPL. Amay Khurasiya, the former India batter and Ashutosh’s childhood coach, was so confident of Ashutosh’s ability that he told him: “Whenever you get a chance [in the IPL], you will be a hero!”
Ashutosh might have had to wait longer to be a hero had the Impact Player rule not been in place but he’s making up for lost time.
