IPL 10, First 2 weeks: 5 Players who can force their way in to the national team

IPL has hit off its tenth season and has already witnessed some enticing matches with jaw-dropping results. For the last 9 years, it has been a tournament which has provided the opportunity to lesser known cricketers to rub shoulders with some of the very best in the game which has taken the level of this competition to a whole new level.

This season, IPL bids have made the eyeballs roll around a lot due to the bidders taking much interest in the local uncapped players rather than for big international or capped names. Where experienced players like Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan and Imran Tahir remained unsold in the original auction, unknown commodities like Basil Thampi and T. Natarajan bagged whopping amounts which will surely be a turning point in their life. There was a whole fight around the tables for these fresh new talents.

As we have finished the 2nd week of IPL we have witnessed some exceptional all-round display by all the teams in the picture. Be it Lynn’s quickfire innings, Narine’s opening, Samson’s first century, Badree’s hattrick all have come in the correct time. But some players have been consistent enough to show their worth in the league and claim to deserve a national call soon.

As the season stretches more, hope these youngsters keep their eye on their dreams and cut through that extra edge to make it happen big for them. Like IPL has made it for talents like Hardik Pandya or Bumrah in the past, hope these new young talents too soon get their jersey’s and win it for the nation. Here is the list of 5 such players from this edition who has performed well in the first two weeks of the tournament.

Manish Pandey

Mention this name and you think of a young man with nerves of steel and a man worthy of playing under ample pressure. An aggressive middle-order batsman and an agile fielder Pandey hails from Uttaranchal. He plays for Karnataka at the domestic level and represented the state at Under -17 and Under-19 level and was also a part of the squad in Under-19 World cup 2008 at Malaysia.

Pandey’s coming in limelight started off when he became the first Indian to hit a century in Indian T20 league playing for Bangalore. The success followed on being leading run-scorer on Ranji season with 882 runs and average of 62.00 which led him to be bought by Kolkata knight Riders in 2014.Smashing an unbeaten 114 to propel RCB out of semifinals in IPL to take Kolkata all the way to finals that had attracted all the eyeballs.

Pandey proved that his IPL exploits were no flash in the pan as he went to play an enticing domestic season.Who can forget his century against Australia in that match winning bout! Though this young talent has not got enough chance to represent the national team. But his indomitable spirit has led him to continue his skills even in IPL 10. He is a big match player and has the ability to win matches for his team on his own. When KKR was precariously placed at 21-3 he built a superb partnership with Yusuf Pathan to take his team to victory. That was the highest partnership for the fourth wicket which keeps him in contention for the Orange Cap.