IPL 2018: Best Indian uncapped playing XI

The Indian Premier League has always served as a platform for young players to showcase their talent to the cricketing world. It provides raw talent with an opportunity to play alongside and against established players, thus allowing them to learn the nuances of the game.

The likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Sanju Samson have come into the limelight with the help of the Indian T20 league.

The 11th edition of the Indian Premier League has reached the halfway stage and many individuals have already made a mark with some stellar performances. Like every season, there are a handful of lesser-known uncapped Indian players who have performed exceptionally this season for their respective teams.

So, let us take a look at the best Indian uncapped XI of IPL 2018 thus far:

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Openers

Prithvi Shaw

The captain of India's U-19 winning team was roped in by Delhi Daredevils for Rs. 1.2 crore this season but the youngster was included in the playing XI only in their sixth match of the season.

The 18-year-old impressed one and all with his stroke play on his debut against KXIP where he scored a fluent 10-ball-22 as an opener before being cleaned up by Ankit Rajpoot. The youngster was instrumental in Delhi's last two victories against KKR and RR with his classy innings of 62 and 47 respectively. The way Shaw treated Australia's speedster Mitchell Johnson in their match against KKR shows how good a talent he is.

The Mumbai lad has thus far scored 140 runs in 4 innings at an average of 35.00 and a staggering strike rate of 167

#2 Suryakumar Yadav

The 27-year-old leads the batting charts for the Mumbai Indians this season. The right-hander has thus far scored 283 runs in 8 matches at an average of 35.38 and a strike rate of 128.

The right-handed batsman has been in sublime form this season as an opener and will be a perfect choice to partner Prithvi Shaw at the top.

Middle Order

#3 Nitish Rana

Nitish Rana

The 24-year-old Delhi lad has emerged as one of the mainstays of the Kolkata Knight Riders team with some fine showing with the bat and useful part-time spin bowling.

The southpaw has scored 188 runs in 8 innings thus far at an average of 31.33 and a strike rate of 136. Rana has also unveiled his off-breaks this season, picking up 4 wickets, including the prized scalps of Kohli and AB de Villiers.

#4 Shubman Gill

Shubman Gill made headlines with his stellar show with the bat in the U-19 Cricket World Cup 2018. The 18-year-old had amassed 372 runs in 5 innings to become the second highest run-getter of the tournament and was also crowned the Player of the Tournament.

The Punjab-born lad's talent got immediate recognition and he was given an IPL contract for a whopping Rs. 1.8 Cr by KKR.

The right-hander has mostly batted in the lower middle order for KKR and made some handy contributions by scoring 122 runs in 6 innings at an average of 40.67. In their match against CSK last night, Gill came out to bat at number 4 for the first time this season and scored a fluent 36-ball-57 to guide his team to a 6-wicket victory.

Given his technique and temperament, Shubman Gill will be the perfect number four for this team.

#5 Ishan Kishan (WK-Batsman)

The former India U-19 captain from Ranchi was roped in by Mumbai Indians for a whopping 6.2 Cr. which was the joint second highest bid among the uncapped players.

With 151 runs thus far in seven innings at an average of 21.57 and a strike-rate of 140, the southpaw is the fourth highest run-getter for Mumbai Indians this season.

The 19-year-old also has six catches, two stumpings, and a run-out assist to his name.

All-rounders:

#6 Krunal Pandya

Krunal Pandya

The elder brother of Hardik Pandya has been a mainstay of the Mumbai Indians line-up ever since his debut in 2016. The 27-year-old was RTMed by Mumbai Indians in the auctions for a hefty price of Rs. 8.8 Crore.

The left-hander has thus far scored 136 runs in 7 innings this season at an average of 22.67 and a strike rate of 137. He has scalped 8 wickets in as many innings with an impressive economy of 7.04.

Spinners:

#7 Krishnappa Gowtham

Krishnappa Gautam

The bowling all-rounder from Karnataka made headlines when he was bought by Rajasthan Royals for a whopping Rs. 6.20 Cr in the auctions.

The youngster certainly lived up to expectations when he produced a blinder of a knock against Mumbai Indians. His 11-ball-33 saw his team through in the final over.

The right-hander has thus far scored 74 valuable runs with the bat and picked up 5 wickets with his off-spin.

Given his prowess with both bat and ball, the 29-year-old adds much-needed depth to the batting whilst also performing spin duties admirably.

#8 Mayank Markande

The 20-year-old Mayank Markande is without a doubt the find of the season for Mumbai Indians. The Punjab-born leggie was roped in by MI for a mere Rs. 20 lakh in the auctions of IPL 2018.

The right-arm spinner was a surprise package in the season opener as he went on to pick three crucial wickets for just 23 runs in his quota of 4 overs against CSK.

With 11 wickets in 8 matches at an economy of 7.73, the leggie stands second in the wickets column, along with Hyderabad's Siddarth Kaul.

Pace bowlers:

#9 Siddarth Kaul

Siddarth Kaul

The Pathankot-born bowler is famously remembered for his celebration after winning the 2008 U-19 World Cup in Malaysia.

Siddarth Kaul has been a crucial player in the SRH bowling line-up the last two seasons. He picked up 16 wickets in 10 matches for SRH last season at a decent economy of 8.41.

This season too Kaul has been exceptional as he has picked 11 wickets in 8 matches at an economy of 6.87.

#10 Basil Thampi

The 24-year-old speedster from Kerala was a revelation for the Suresh Raina-led Gujarat Lions franchise in the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League as he scalped 11 wickets in 12 matches.

This season, Thampi was roped in by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs. 95 lakh. Thampi has been very good in the death overs for SRH and has thus far picked 5 wickets in 3 matches.

#11 Ankit Rajpoot

The Uttar Pradesh pacer has been making a lot of noise with his performances in the eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League. After being roped in by Kings XI Punjab for a whopping Rs.3 Cr this season, the 24-year-old produced a brilliant spell of fast bowling to pick up his career-best figures of 5/14 against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

With 7 wickets in just 3 matches, Ankit Rajpoot is the second-highest wicket-taker for Punjab.

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