Overseas stars tend to grab the most attention before an IPL season begins, but there’s always unheralded India players who capture the imagination of the public as the tournament unfolds.
Over the years, some of India’s finest white-ball players have emerged from the IPL, making it to the national side on the back of an impressive showing in the world’s foremost T20 league.
Devdutt Padikkal, Ravi Bishnoi and T Natarajan have made headlines with their eye-catching performances so far in IPL 2020. Continue on that track, and they might well end up like some of the biggies mentioned below.
Ravindra Jadeja
Before he became a world-renowned all-rounder, Jadeja was a ‘rockstar’, as his first IPL captain Shane Warne called him during their time together at Rajasthan Royals in 2008. Jadeja was a wily youngster, who could be called on to stall the run flow with the ball, and was a gutsy lower-order batsman. He had two Under 19 World Cup appearances, in 2006 and 2008, ahead of that season, but it was his eye-catching performances in the inaugural IPL that gave him the push into the senior side as he earned his ODI and T20I caps in 2009.
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Hardik Pandya
The younger of the two Pandya brothers, Hardik created a storm even before he made it to the national side. Part of the Baroda state team since 2013, he rose to prominence in IPL 2015, where his late cameos helped Mumbai Indians to the title. At the time, Sachin Tendulkar prophesied that the all-rounder would go on to play for India in the next year and a half. Sure enough, Pandya did feature for India in 2016, even bowling the crucial final over as India pulled off a famous heist against Bangladesh at the T20 World Cup.
Axar Patel
A regular part of India’s A team, Axar Patel was identified as Jadeja’s successor, carrying the same template of the left-arm spinner with his economical spells and lower-order hitting. ‘Emerging Player’ of the 2014 IPL, Axar was brilliant for Kings XI Punjab in their run to the final, managing an economy of 6.13 while picking 17 wickets at 23.82. Less than a month later, at just 20, he made his ODI debut.
Yuzvendra Chahal
Chahal is yet to make it to the Test team, but he’s already India’s premier white-ball bowler, his loopy, drifting deliveries flumoxing the most capable international batsmen. In the 2015 IPL, Chahal was the only spinner among the top five wicket-takers of the tournament, and it didn’t take him long to evolve from being Virat Kohli’s go t0 bowler at Royal Challengers Bangalore to becoming his trusted tweaker in India colours.
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Mohit Sharma
Mohit’s skiddy pace and back-of-the-hand slower deliveries made him a hit under MS Dhoni at CSK, and it wasn’t long before Mohit was playing under Dhoni for India. He claimed 23 wickets in 15 IPL 2013 matches, and within a year, made his India debut in both white-ball formats. He later went on to play the 2015 World Cup, where he picked up 13 wickets in eight games.
Kuldeep Yadav
The left-arm wrist spinner made waves in 2014, when he picked up a hat-trick in the U19 World Cup, ending as the tournament’s joint second-highest wicket-taker.
The journey begins here with @bookingcom.
From being India's leading wicket-taker in the 2014 U19 World Cup to being a regular in the India side that reached the #CWC19 semi-finals, Kuldeep Yadav's career has been quite the journey so far.#U19CWC | #FutureStars pic.twitter.com/4NimzpayPc
— ICC (@ICC) February 4, 2020
However, it was in 2016 that he made his IPL debut, playing three games for Kolkata Knight Riders, taking six wickets in the process. Within a year, he was called up for his Test debut against Australia, and has gone on to become part of India a deadly spin-duo for India, along with Chahal, in the white-ball formats.
Ravichandran Ashwin
Before he became the Test superstar, Ashwin had a breakthrough Ranji Trophy season, and followed it with a good showing in the IPL in 2010, where he was employed in the Powerplay by MS Dhoni, and picked up 13 wickets in 12 games. A month later, he was on the second-string national side touring Zimbabwe, making his ODI and T20I debuts. He became the leading wicket-taker in that year’s Champions League T20, and has since cemented his place among the best red-ball bowlers of the decade.
Jasprit Bumrah
When Bumrah first featured in the IPL, his gangly action was the most talked-about attribute of his bowling. The sceptics soon came around thanks to his pin-point accuracy and immense control of the ball, both old and new, which turned him into India’s ‘next big thing’.
First playing for MI in IPL 2013, he picked up the wicket of Virat Kohli in his debut game, even though he played just one more game that season. Later that year, he made his first-class debut, and by 2016 was part of the Indian national side, featuring in the white-ball formats of their Australia tour under Virat Kohli. In 2018, he made his Test debut, and has already become India’s go-to bowler in the format.
Shubman Gill
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Shubman Gill has made his India debut after showing he belonged at the highest level in the IPL[/caption]
Already Punjab’s star in the making when he featured in the 2018 U19 World Cup, Gill went on to build on the reputation during that year’s IPL, where his performances showed that he belonged to the big stage. Striking the ball at 146.04, he averaged 33.83, and scored a fine 36-ball 57 at No.4 to help steer a 178-run chase against CSK. Within eight months, he had received his India ODI cap, and next season, he won the 2019 IPL Emerging Player award.
Washington Sundar
Part of the Ishan Kishan-led India U19 team during the 2016 U19 World Cup, Sundar quickly evolved into a fine T20 prospect, catching widespread attention with his performances in the Tamil Nadu Premier League, a domestic T20 competition. Soon, he was bowling in the Powerplay under Steve Smith for Rising Pune Supergiant, where he picked up eight wickets in 11 appearances. Later that year, he was handed his India T20I debut under Rohit Sharma, and has since played 23 games in the format, also earning his ODI cap.
