A lot is cooking in Indian cricket these days. From Lodha Committee recommendations spurred into action to a glitzy IPL auction, Indian cricket is a constant news-churner. A lot of the attention over the recent IPL auction has already been drawn away thanks to India finding itself in a precarious situation in the first Test against Australia. While very few gave the visiting team a fighting chance in the four-match series, they are surprisingly well on their way to probably winning the Test on a minefield at Pune and taking a lead.
Meanwhile, it is not such a bad idea to look at the IPL squads after the initial hullabaloo over the auctions to see which teams have strong Indian contingents and which ones haven’t. This is particularly important considering South Africa and England players will leave midway for their national duty. While the four foreign players in the final playing XI will be needed to provide the impact, teams can hardly bank on them to do all the work.
In the past, teams like Chennai and KKR have been able to do well on the back of excellent Indian players providing the cartilage around the big-ticket players. Let’s take a look at the IPL squads this year which have reasonably good Indian players.
Mumbai Indians
While the big boys from the IPL have always had deep pockets, it is their Indian contingent that has helped them get the silverware often. One of the most successful IPL teams, Mumbai Indians have an enviable Indian contingent that can compete on its own with any of the other teams. They are led well by a Mumbai lad, Rohit Sharma, India’s regular short-format opener and MI will hope he recovers perfectly from his thigh surgery after an injury.
MI also boast of death-overs specialist Jasprit Bumrah, who recently won India a T20I against England with a sensational last over. They have the Pandya brothers, Krunal and Hardik, both all-rounders, the former a spinner and the latter a pacer who also features in India colours. There is Harbhajan Singh, Karn Sharma and J Suchith, three different types of spinners.
To beef up the batting is Ambati Rayudu and Parthiv Patel, well-known names in Indian cricket circuit, having featured for the Indian team. Vinay Kumar, who has bowled the new ball for India in the past is also present in the mix.
Top 3 Indian players: Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Harbhajan Singh
#2 Delhi Daredevils
We will be watching Delhi Daredevils very closely this year with their promising crop of Indian players. There is Shreyas Iyer, who has been knocking on the doors for selection and the young wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant, who has already debuted for India in T20Is.
Led by the veteran left-arm pacer, Zaheer Khan, one of India’s wiliest fast bowlers in their history, Delhi also have leg-spinner Amit Mishra, wicket-keeper and captain of Mumbai Ranji team, Aditya Tare and left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem. India’s young Test triple-centurion, Karun Nair, and their best fast bowler currently, Mohammad Shami are also part of the Delhi side. Sanju Samson and Jayant Yadav also feature in the side making it a formidable Indian unit.
Top 3 Indian players: Zaheer Khan, Rishabh Pant, Mohammad Shami
#3 Royal Challengers Bangalore
Any team that features Virat Kohli, the best batsman on the planet across all formats, will make it to this list on his form alone. But, RCB is more than just King Kohli. They also have the stylish Karnataka batsman and Indian Test opener Lokesh Rahul, who came into his own last year under Kohli’s wing.
RCB has leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who delivered India’s best T20 spell recently, against England with a six-wicket haul. Throw in another recent success story, Kedar Jadhav and the young, swashbuckling batsman, Sarfaraz Khan, youngest player to play in the IPL when he made his debut, and RCB has an Indian contingent that can win matches on its own.
They also have seam-bowling all-rounder Stuart Binny and spin-bowling all-rounder Pawan Negi, along with left-arm pacer, Srinath Aravind. This is the side that has everything to win the silverware. Maybe, they will need a little luck too?
Top 3 Indian players: Virat Kohli, Yuzvendra Chahal, Lokesh Rahul
#4 Sunrisers Hyderabad
On the back of Yuvraj Singh’s grand international comeback, Sunrisers just about overtakes Kolkata Knight Riders to make it to this list. Only just (so KKR fans, we mean no disrespect). Sunrisers have two bowlers from the Indian side, the measly Bhuvneshwar Kumar and the veteran trickster, Ashish Nehra.
Naman Ojha will keep wickets for them. But it is Yuvraj Singh, who will bring plenty of spine to the middle order, not to mention Shikhar Dhawan who opens the innings. In terms of money spent on players, SRH are second from the bottom, their Rs. 53.75 crore rupees only more than KXIP’s Rs. 52.1 crores.
With left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma (who has an economy of 6.38 in all T20 cricket), left-arm medium pacer Barinder Sran (who has played 6 T20Is for India) and Deepak Hooda, middle-order bat and off-break bowler, Sunrisers have a versatile and effective Indian contingent that can efficiently get the job done.
Top 3 Indian players: Yuvraj Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Ashish Nehra
Just missed: Kolkata Knight Riders
Although KKR just misses out from the list, it has a good Indian bench with skipper Gautam Gambhir supported by Manish Pandey, Robin Uthappa and Yusuf Pathan. They also have Umesh Yadav, who is in excellent red-ball form this year. Young chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, leg-spinner Piyush Chawla and middle-order bat, Suryakumar Yadav are other prominent players.
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