Uncapped players in IPL 2015: A sneak peek

IPL is always known as an arena that breeds lesser known talent, both domestic and international. Right from its first edition, in 2008, which shot explosive Australian batsman Shaun Marsh to fame to the last concluded edition, 2014, which helped local boy Axar Patel win a national call, it has brought forth a handful of able cricketers to limelight.Being the most watched T20 tournament on the planet, it brings great recognition to top class performers. Acknowledging this trend, franchises have, of late, been involved in extensive talent scouting, which helps them spot unique players from leagues unknown. This edition is going to be no different.Almost all the franchises, except for Sunrisers Hyderabad, have invested on a good number of uncapped players this season. Let us know take a sneak peek on to the profile of these little known talents:

#1 Chennai Super Kings

1. Andrew Tye:

Andrew Tye is a 28-year-old Australian bowling all-rounder who is currently contracted to Western Australia and Perth Scorchers domestically. Despite being a late bloomer, he turned out to be a revelation during the 2013-14 RYOBI One-Day Cup, finishing as the tournament’s second top wicket-taker with 13 dismissals in five games.

He was seen as a breakout player for Perth Scorchers in the 2014-15 Big Bash League season, with the Australian T20 captain Aaron Finch labelling him as the 'find of the tournament’. Tye can be handy with the bat too; he made an unbeaten 76 from 47 balls in a first-grade game for Scarborough.

2. Pratyush Singh:

Pratyush is a little-known leg-spinner from Jharkhand who was purchased for Rs. 10 Lakhs. This 20-year-old has represented Delhi at the Under-19 level. He might not have much of a role to play for the Super Kings this season given the sheer number of spinners the team already has in the side.

3. Ankush Bains:

Ankush Bains is a Himachal Pradesh wicketkeeper-batsman who has also represented India at the U-19 level in the 2014 World Cup; he right-handed opener notched up a scintillating 84-ball 139 against Zimbabwe in the tournament. He recently scored a 129 against Jharkhand in a Ranji Trophy match, as well.

4. Eklavya Dwivedi:

This 26-year-old is a wicket-keeper from Uttar Pradesh. He was first signed by Pune Warriors India in the IPL 2011 season, but hasn’t yet played a game in the grand T20 tournament. However, he has played 21 T20s so far at the domestic level maintaining a strike-rate of 130+. In the ongoing Ranji season, Dwivedi slammed an unbeaten 102 off 73 deliveries to steer Uttar Pradesh to a seven-wicket win against Railways, thus helping them avoid relegation.

#2 Delhi Daredevils

1. Travis Head:

A talented left-handed batsman from Australia, Travis Head, 21 years old, made his first-class debut at the age of 18 representing South Australia in the Sheffield Shield. He was part of Australia U-19s and established his place soon in his state team’s batting line-up.

At 21, he became the state's youngest captain of all-time. He had previously taken South Australia to the Under-19 National Championship title in 2012-13; he was named as the Player of the Championship as well. His T20 strike-rate of 148.44 in the 12 matches he has played indicates he is someone to watch out for.

2. Marcus Stoinis:

A top-order batsman and a medium-pace bowler, the 25-year-old Marcus Stoinis debuted for his home state – Western Australia – at the age of 19. He eventually moved on to represent Victoria in the Sheffield Shield during 2013-14 and made a name for himself with an outstanding 170 against Tasmania. He has also represented Australian U-19s and was part of the 2012 English county season where he took a hat-trick in one of the matches.

3. Kona Srikar Bharat:

For this 21-year-old talented wicket-keeper-batsman, IPL 2015 with Delhi Daredevils will be his maiden start to the extravagant T20 tournament. Bharat, from Visakhapatnam, who plays for Andhra, became the first wicket-keeper to make a triple-century in the history of Ranji Trophy cricket when he scored a 311-ball 308 against Goa this season. He is one of the leading run-scorers in the current Ranji season with two centuries and two fifties.

KK Jiyaz is yet another uncapped player signed by the Delhi-based franchise, but there is not much information about him.

#3 Kings XI Punjab

1. Nikhil Shankar Naik:

He is a 20-year-old attacking wicketkeeper-batsman who plays for Maharashtra. A half-century on his T20 debut at the age of 18 got him into the limelight, and he was drafted into the state’s ODI side the following year. His domestic T20 strike-rate reads 120.72. He was snapped up by King’s XI Punjab for 30 Lakhs.

2. Yogesh Gowalkar:

A 35-year-old right-arm leg-break bowler, Yogesh Gowalkar is a veteran in the Indian domestic circuit; he made his debut for Madhya Pradesh aged 20 and won national recognition when picked for the India A tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya in 2004. He played a season for Essex 2nd XI in 2005. Over a career spanning eight seasons, Golwalkar has taken 134 first-class wickets at 33.26 and 23 List A wickets at 34.69, which includes a career best of 8/127.

#4 Kolkata Knight Riders

1. KC Cariappa:

The mystery spinner from Karnataka who was all over the news after last week’s auction is one of the biggest surprise picks. Bought for a whopping Rs. 2.4 crore, the 20-year-old off-spinner Kishan Cariappa shot to fame in the 2014 edition of the Karnataka Premier League T20 where he picked up 11 wickets in six matches, which eventually earned him a call-up to Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy preliminary squad. It is rumoured that his action resembles that of Sunil Narine, another mystery spinner.

#5 Mumbai Indians

Siddesh Lad (Picture courtesy: Indian Express)

1. Hardik Pandya:

Hardik Pandya is an all-rounder from Gujarat. He is just 21 years old and is a T20 specialist. Domestically, he has played 16 T20s so far and has maintained a batting average of 31.09 and a strike-rate of 112.13, His bowling figures are equally impressive with 16 wickets in 16 matches. He was bought for 10 Lakhs.

2. Akshay Wakhare:

An off-spinner representing Vidharbha, the 29-year-old Wakhare doesn’t have much T20 experience. However, his career-best figures of 13 wickets in a Ranji Trophy match against Surat this season has caught a lot of attention.

3. Siddesh Lad:

Lad is a right-handed batsman and an occasional right-arm off-break bowler who plays for Mumbai in Indian domestic circuit. He was the captain of the Mumbai team in the Toyota University Cricket Championship (UCC). His father, Dinesh Lad, is the coach of Rohit Sharma.

J Suchitch and Nitesh Rana are a couple of other uncapped players who have been picked by the Mukesh Ambani owned franchise.

#6 Rajasthan Royals

1. Pardeep Sahu:

The leg-spinner was 16 when he made his first-class debut in 2002 for Haryana. His career, however, failed to take off from that point: since then, the 28-year-old has managed to feature in only 13 first-class matches, picking up 13 wickets.

Fast forward to 2014, Sahu was the talk of the Mumbai cricketing fraternity after becoming only the fourth bowler in the history of Kanga League 'A' Division cricket to scalp all 10 wickets in an innings. Sahu returned figures of 29-1-102-10 for Payyade Sports Club against hosts MIG Cricket Club to join the elite group. This feat also won him a Rs. 10 Lakh contract with Rajasthan Royals. He will be hoping to repeat the magic in the IPL, too.

There isn’t much about Barinder Singh Saran, another uncapped player picked by Rajasthan Royals, that we could gather.

#7 Royal Challengers Bangalore

1. Sean Abbott :

A fast bowling all-rounder from Australia who made his first-class debut with New South Wales, Sean Abbott took 27 Sheffield Shield wickets in the 2013-14 season. Abbott was rewarded with a call-up to Australia's one-day and Twenty20 squads in 2014.

Quite unfortunately though, people remember him for the Philip Hughes incident last year. But he came back from that tragedy remarkably well, taking 6 for 14 against Queensland on his return to first-class cricket. In January 2015, Abbott was named as Australia's young cricketer of the year.

2. Adam Milne:

This 22-year-old lanky right-arm fast bowler belongs to New Zealand. His pace has impressed critics who have marked him as a long-term prospect for the national team. He can consistently bowl in excess of 145 km/h. His fastest delivery was clocked at 153.2 km/h. He is part of New Zealand's World Cup squad. He was sold for 70 Lakhs to Royal Challengers Bangalore.

3. Sarfaraz Naushad Khan:

At just 17 years, this Mumbaikar is the youngest player to win an IPL contract this year. Sarfaraz was part of the Indian U-19 team in 2014 and he played a couple of impressive innings to bail his team out of trouble in the tournament; he also scored a 66-ball 100 against South Africa in a quadrangular series last year in Visakhapatnam. He was bought for a sum of 50 Lakhs.

Shishir Bhavane is another uncapped player bought by the Bangalore-based franchise; there isn’t much information about him, though.