new delhi: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Ayush Mhatre hogged the limelight in their debut IPL season last year and in the upcoming edition too, there would be quite a few who would like to justify the tournament tagline of “Where Talent Meets Opportunity”.
We take a look at some of the new faces who are expected to make a name for themselves in the next eight weeks.
The list comprises both Indian and international names who either haven’t yet made their IPL debut or have played less than five games so far.
Prashant Veer (CSK)
There are plenty of cricketers in India, who bowl slow left-arm orthodox and bat left-handed. But none of them are faced with the task of filling up the big boots of Ravindra Jadeja like the 20-year-old Amethi-born Prashant Veer.
Never before has one witnessed Chennai Super Kings invest so heavily in youth.
The franchise bagged him with a Rs 14.20 crore bid, based more on potential and how the scouts felt after looking at him during trials.
The 20-year-old has only nine Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) matches under his belt but with a bowling economy rate of 6.45 and a
batting strike-rate of 167 plus, Prashant Veer is expected to play a big part.
Auqib Nabi (DC)
At 29, Nabi isn’t a spring chicken and has a good eight years of domestic cricket under his belt but the anticipation surrounding his IPL debut would make DC fans believe that they are in for something special.
After a stellar Ranji season during which he claimed 60 odd wickets to singlehandedly get the trophy for Jammu and Kashmir, the ‘Baramullah Express’s big-match temperament and India prospects will be judged this year. He has played 34 T20 games for J&K in SMAT and the economy rate of 7.74 is good for someone who mostly bowls in Powerplays.
Ashok Sharma (GT)
Ashok, one of the fastest young bowlers in India, has been a part of Rajasthan Royals set-up but hasn’t got a game so far in the IPL.
There are no guarantees that the 23-year-old will get one this season with GT, especially with Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna being around as first two choices along with Kagiso Rabada.
Tejasvi Dahiya (KKR)
Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Abhishek Nayar’s protege Angkrish Raghuvanshi is being prepared as the batter-keeper since he has already played a couple of IPL seasons.
But the 23-year-old Dahiya, who hails from Delhi, is also a serious talent, who if persisted with, could give results in long run. He scored a half-century for Delhi during the last SMAT and a strike-rate of 168 makes him a good bet in the middle-order.
Jacob Bethell (RCB)
The 22-year-old scored a half-century last season in one of the two games that he got a look-in but this time, Bethell is coming into the IPL on the back of a superb century in the T20 World Cup semi-final against India at the Wankhede.
On Chinnaswamy belters, he along with Jitesh Sharma, could become a nightmare for the opposition teams.