The 2022 IPL season has been a rollercoaster ride. I mean who would’ve thought a strong team like Mumbai Indians would fail miserably and the defending champions Chennai Super Kings would have such a disastrous season. Whereas Rajasthan Royals, a team written off by a lot of people have killed it this season, to the awe of a lot of fans.
IPL has been a platform for young cricketers to show their worth in a high profile environment. This IPL season has given us quite a few breakout stars.
Let’s take a look at some of the young Indian stars who made a name for themselves this IPL season.
Umran Malik
Hailing from Jammu and Kashmir, Sunrisers’ Umran Malik is a pace sensation. His consistent and disciplined bowling pace caught the attention of many fans and IPL’s string pullers. He has taken 22 wickets in 14 matches. He also holds the record for the fastest ball of the IPL 2022 season at 156.9 kmph against the Delhi Capitals in the 20th over. He has also been selected in the Indian Cricket team for the upcoming T20 series against South Africa.
Mohsin Khan
Mohsin Khan was relatively unknown when he was first picked up by the Mumbai Indians back in 2018. Then at 23, he was picked up by Lucknow SuperGiants. He showed his strengths in matches against Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings, and Delhi Capitals. In the match against Delhi Capitals he went from a reserve bench player to being named the player of the match. He claimed 13 wickets in the 8 matches he played.
Tilak Verma
Tilak Verma is a left handed batsman for Mumbai Indians. He was also a member of India’s U19 World Cup team in 2020. Despite Mumbai Indians’ underwhelming performance, Verma has been in phenomenal shape. In MI’s match against CSK, Varma produced a match winning knock scoring an unbeaten 34 runs off 32 deliveries to help his team chase a target of 97 runs. With his rescuing effort for the team from a position of 33/4, Varma became the highest scoring teenager in the history of the IPL (368) breaking Rishab Pant’s record of 366 runs in 2017.
Mukesh Choudhary
Mukesh Choudhary started out as a net bowler for Sunrisers Hyderabad, and played the same role for Chennai Super Kings during the 2021 season. He has now emerged as a key pacer for the defending champions.Defending a score of 97 against Mumbai Indians, Choudhary stunned the opposition, bowling 4 overs and finishing with figures of 3/23 wiping out 3 of MI’s top 5. He finished the season as the leading wicket taker for CSK alongside Dwayne Bravo at 16 wickets.
Jitesh Sharma
Punjab Kings wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma is in the limelight for his breakthrough IPL 2022 season.Though, Punjab Kings lost the match Jitesh Sharma’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed, scoring 4 boundaries and 2 sixes at a rate more than 210 against Rajasthan Royals. The legend himself, Virendra Sehwag was so captivated by Sharma’s performance that he suggested Jitesh be the second wicket keeper for the Indian Cricket team in the upcoming T20 world cup.
Rinku Singh
Rinku Singh was acquired by Kolkata Knight Riders back in 2018. His debut season wasn’t the greatest, but his determination and persistence have made him a better and skillful player. Working on his craft at the KKR academy with KKR assistant coach Abhishek Nayar. In the 2022 season of the IPL he has scored 174 runs in 7 matches. He nearly pulled off a seemingly impossible victory from Lucknow SuperGiants in an mesmerising effort.
Yash Dayal
He was in demand during the IPL 2022 auction and was acquired by the Gujarat Titans for a sum of INR 3.2 crore.Gujarat Titans won the match against Rajasthan Royals because of the clinical bowling by the young Indian left-armer who had the figures of 3/40 by the time he was finished. He took 9 wickets in 7 matches for the team. With an average of 25.78 and economy rate of 9.28
Abhishek Sharma
He was first part of the Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) in 2018, where he played just 3 games, and then in 2019 he was acquired by Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 6.50 crore. Chennai Super Kings suffered defeat at the hands of Abhishek as he went on to 75 runs in 50 balls. He has had a great 2022 season with 426 runs in 14 matches to his name. He also scored 2 half centuries, with a strike rate of 133.13 and an average of 30.43. He has been integral to the Hyderabad franchise’s fortunes especially due to captain Kane Williamson’s continued struggles this season.
