IPL 2018: Three uncapped Indian spinners who have impressed so far

Krunal Pandya has impressed with his bowling
Krunal Pandya has impressed with his bowling

During the IPL season, a lot of unknown Indian players get an opportunity to showcase their talent and hard-work to impress the selectors. Though IPL is not a sole yardstick for selecting Test or ODI players to represent India, consistent performances during the tournament do influence the decision making of the selectors.

Consider the case of Karn Sharma who was brought by SRH in the 2014 auctions. He was one of the costliest spinners and was picked up at a price of 3.75 crores. He had an incredible IPL and picked up 15 wickets at an economy rate of fewer than 7.5 runs per over. His performance made the selectors take notice and he was drafted into the Indian team.

Though he failed to impress in the national team, his performances in the IPL helped him get picked for the Indian team. Here is a chance for these three spinners to get into a reckoning for a national berth:


#3 Krunal Pandya

The elder of the Pandya brothers, Krunal is a slow left-arm orthodox bowler. In this year's auction, became the costliest uncapped buy in IPL history, going for a whopping 8.8 crores. He has been an integral part of the Mumbai Indians side and was instrumental in helping Mumbai Indians win the title last year. During last year's IPL, he picked up 10 wickets at an impressive economy rate of 6.82.

In this year's IPL, he had a decent star and picked up 6 wickets in 5 matches (Economy rate of 7.07). His accurate line and length coupled with the ability to slow down things in the middle overs make him a valuable spinner. In the national team, Ravindra Jadeja played this role exceptionally well but of late he has been out of form. Krunal Pandya can make a strong case for himself if he continues to be consistent with his bowling efforts. His batting along with his sharp fielding skills will be an advantage for the national team.

#2 Rahul Tewatia

Rahul Tewatia

Rahul Tewatia is a classic case of rags-to-riches stories. At the auctions, the base price of the leg-spinner was just Rs 10 Lakhs. Surprisingly, Delhi Daredevils bought the Tewatia for a massive sum of 3 crores.

The 24-year-old is an old-fashioned leg-spinner who prefers to give the ball air instead of bowling with pace. In this year's IPL, he has been a regular for Delhi in spite of Amit Mishra and Nadeem being in the team. He has repaid the faith shown by the team's management by grabbing 6 wickets at a miserly economy rate of 7.31.

The young leg-spinner is a handful with the bat too. By scoring 24 of 21 balls, he almost led Delhi to a famous victory against his old team (He played for Punjab last season). Delhi has been languishing at the bottom of the table and will hope that Tewatia will continue his rich vein of form. Going forward it will be interesting to see if the spinner from Haryana is consistent in his performances.

#1 Mayank Markande

The talented spinner
The talented spinner

Before the start of the IPL, most of the experts believed that amongst all teams, Mumbai Indians had the weakest spin department. Mayank Markande silenced all the critics with his performances in his first two matches.

The 20-year-old leg spinner picked up three wickets in Mumbai Indians' opener against Chennai Super Kings and followed that up with a four-wicket haul against Sunrisers Hyderabad. It was an invaluable moment when he picked up the prized scalp of M.S Dhoni. In this edition of IPL, he is also the first player to pick up four wickets.

With such an impressive start, he leads the bowling charts with 8 wickets in 6 matches and boasts of an economy rate of 7.53. The young lad is definitely one of the contenders for the Purple Cap. With Mumbai Indians having a horrible start to their IPL campaign, he has been the only player who has impressed with his variety and his potent googly's.

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