The 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is merely a week away. IPL is not just cricket, it’s cricketainment. Meanwhile, over the years the tournament has provided a huge platform to the uncapped young and upcoming cricketers to showcase their talent. For some, it has also been short-cut to international cricket. In IPL, the quality of cricket is as such that the selectors can not ignore the performance of a youngster in this cricket extravaganza.

Well, this year is going to be no exception.

According to the author, here are the top five Indian uncapped cricketers, who can make their mark for their respective teams in IPL 2018, which starts from April 7.

Kamlesh Nagarkoti

The 18-year old right-arm pace bowler from Rajasthan pacer made headlines when he had an impressive outing with the India Under-19 side during its victorious campaign in the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2018 in New Zealand. With the ability of clocking regularly in excess of 140kph, the pacer took nine scalps in six matches of the tournament.

Earlier, only in his second List A game, Nagarkoti became the first bowler from his state to claim a hat-trick in domestic 5-over cricket. Currently, he is one of the most talked about upcoming young bowlers at the domestic circuit. In the 2018 IPL auction, Nagarkoti was bought for INR 3 crore by Kolkata Knight Riders. On a bouncy Eden track, he is well capable of making the ball talk.

Krunal Pandya

Krunal Pandya, brother of Hardik Pandya is an important member of the Mumbai Indians set-up. With his clever left-arm spinner and hard-hitting batsmanship, in T20 format, Krunal is a match winner. His records are telling the same story. The southpaw averages 28.42 with the bat and strikes at 147.50 after 48 matches. Whereas with his left-arm spin, he has 39 wickets with an economy rate of 6.92.

In this year’s auction, there was fierce bidding for this Baroda all-rounder. The process raised his base price from INR 40 lakh to a mind-boggling INR 8.8 crore. Royal Challengers Bangalore won the bid, but Mumbai Indians matched that with Right To Match option and picked up Krunal. Now it is up to him to justify the amount of money, which has been spent by the franchise.

Deepak Hooda

For Deepak Hooda, this edition of IPL can turn out to be a make-or-break season. The Rohtak-born Baroda all-rounder is a hard-hitting middle-order batsman and a handy off-spinner. He came through the ranks of age group cricket.

In 2016, during Hyderabad’s title winning campaign, Hooda played a crucial role with both bat and ball. Recently, the youngster was a part of the Indian squad, which went to Sri Lanka for the Nidahas Trophy. However, he did not get a game there.

In IPL 2018, Hooda will once again represent the Sunrisers Hyderabad’s and expected to be a crucial member of their scheme of things.

Rahul Tripathi

In IPL 10, Rahul Tripathi emerged from nowhere and became one of the success stories of the tournament through his powerful batting performance for Rising Pune Supergiant. Opening the batting, the Pune-lad struck seven thirty-plus scores in eight innings, including a 93 off 52 against Kolkata Knight Riders.

In IPL 2018, Tripathi will play for the Rajasthan Royals. In the auction, they paid INR 3.40 crore to pick him in the squad. Royal will be hoping for those attacking starts from this youngster.

Prithvi Shaw

Prithvi Shaw is may not exactly be a T20 specialist, but the talented Mumbai teenager is a valuable addition to the Delhi Daredevils squad. In the Under-19 World Cup, he captained India and scored 261 runs in five innings batting at the top and after Shubman Gill, he was India’s second highest scorer.

Thanks to his powerful performances at the domestic circuit, Shaw is the most talked about youngster in Indian cricket right now. It will be interesting to notice how Gautam Gambhir makes the best use of him in the explosive Delhi batting-order. Let’s hope he will get enough opportunities to show the world what he is capable of.

Apart from these five names, there are other uncapped players like Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, K Gowtham, Surya Kumar Yadav, Mayank Agarwal, Nitish Rana, Basil Thampi and others, who would like to use this IPL 2018 as a career-changing event.

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