IPL 2018: Top 5 uncapped players in the first half of the tournament

The Indian Premier League has become the most successful league not only because of the presence of big overseas stars but also because of the talented pool of uncapped players. The IPL provides a stage for these young players to showcase their skills on a platform viewed by millions. Many players like Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer have utilised this stage to make it to the national side. So the presence of a good pool of uncapped players is crucial to a team's success.

Here are the top 5 uncapped players in the season so far.

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#5 Nitish Rana

Nitish Rana has repaid the faith that KKR has shown in him at the auctions. He was the Man of the Match in two of the three occasions that KKR has won so far. He is the second highest run-scorer for the Kolkata-based franchise with 173 runs in 7 outings at a strike rate of 134.10.

What puts him in the top 5 is not only his batting, it's his knack of picking up wickets when he is asked to bowl. In total, he bowled 3.1 overs and picked up 4 wickets conceding less than 7 runs an over.

Against RCB, he has turned the match in favour of KKR by removing two dangerous batsmen, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, off consecutive balls. He did a similar job against Rajasthan Royal by dismissing both set-openers, Ajinkya Rahane and D'Arcy Short.

#4 Ankit Rajpoot

Ankit Rajpoot did not have a great first match against KKR as he conceded 32 runs in three overs. But he came back strongly by picking up 7 wickets in the next two matches and was adjudged the Man of the Match on both occasions.

In his second match against the Delhi Daredevils, he bowled four overs on the trot at the start and gave away only 23 runs and also got the two crucial wickets of Prithvi Shaw and Glenn Maxwell. His spell set the momentum for the match and KXIP managed to restrict Delhi to 139.

In his next match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, he bettered his performance by picking up 5 wickets. He picked up 3 wickets in his first three overs at the start and curtailed the run-flow. He came back to bowl the last over and picked up the wickets of Manish Pandey and Mohammad Nabi.

#3 Surya Kumar Yadav

Surya Kumar Yadav has been in good form and has contributed with many important knocks for his side. He is the leading run-scorer for Mumbai Indians by a big margin.

He has scored a total of 274 runs for his side with an average of 39.40 till now. He has a decent strike rate of 129.24 and has also scored two half-centuries for his side.

After his promotion as the opener, he has been batting with more responsibility. The same was on display in the match against SRH when he held his side even when wickets were tumbling at the other end. His wicket was almost the final nail in the coffin as Sunrisers bowlers dismissed the other batsmen cheaply after he got out.

#2 Siddarth Kaul

Siddarth Kaul first came into the picture as a teenager who won the Under-19 WC in 2008 alongside Virat Kohli. He was expected to rise up the ranks quickly like Kohli but unfortunately, that did not happen to him. In the past few seasons, he has been performing well and has displayed how effective his death bowling skills can be.

He had a wonderful season for SRH last year picking up 16 wickets in 10 matches. SRH has shown faith in him as they bought him back in the auction to aid Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He has continued his good work for the Hyderabad-based franchise as he claimed 9 wickets in 7 matches with a splendid economy rate, which is just above 7.

#1 Mayank Markande

Mayank Markande is definitely the find of the season. He has picked up 10 wickets in 7 matches striking every 13.80 deliveries. In the 23 overs that he has bowled, he has given away only 7.52 runs per over.

His best performances came in the first two matches as his figures read 3/23 and 4/23 against CSK and SRH, respectively. In those two matches, he got the wickets of experienced players like MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey and Shakib Al Hasan.

A young player like Markande performing on a big stage against the best in the business is definitely a remarkable feat. He will learn a lot from the exposure that he is getting and is definitely a player to watch out for.