IPL 2018: 5 Uncapped Players who rose to the occasion

The opening week of the eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been full of drama and thrillers. While there have been several performances that have made it a terrific way to begin the tournament, the performance of five uncapped Indian players gets a special mention for doing well against experienced International players and repaying the faith in their side. While it is only the first week and a bit too early to call them match-winners for their sides for the two months to come, their performance since the start of the season is only an indicator for what they have in store. It is possible that many who have looked promising so far may not be able to maintain the consistency but if their performances over the week are anything to go by, these are some players to watch out. Here are 5 uncapped players who rose to the occasion: 1. Mayank Markande Mayank Markande of Mumbai Indians. (Photo by BCCI/IANS) The 20-year-old Punjab leggie got to don the Purple Cap within two games after picking a total of 7 wickets. On his debut against Chennai Super Kings, his googly got the better of Ambati Rayudu and MS Dhoni and added Deepak Chahar to the list of his victims. He backed the performance up with a 4-wicket-haul against Sunrisers Hyderabad where he got the likes of Wriddhiman Saha, Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey and Shakib Al Hasan. Even though a similar performance was not repeated against Delhi Daredevils, he had a memorable week because in both games he got crucial wickets, all on good deliveries and looked unreadable for most part of his spells and a major factor in bringing Mumbai Indians back into the game on both instances. 2. Suryakumar Yadav Suryakumar Yadav. (Photo Source: Twitter) Watching SKY bat up the order got everybody thinking how underutilized he was during his time with Kolkata Knight Riders. Interestingly, one of his best knocks came against Gautam Gambhir’s Delhi Daredevils when in a surprise move, he opened the batting with Evin Lewis. Gambhir would have thought to himself why he let him play so lower down the order. He ended up scoring In the matches earlier, he came to bat at No. 4 where again, he seemed to look comfortable as displayed by him against Chennai Super Kings. Even though he was dismissed on 43, he did a great job at recovering from the early blows suffered with the dismissals of Lewis and Rohit. He didn’t quite convert the start he got against Sunrisers Hyderabad but he looked like their best batsman as he held a tight one when other batsmen kept coming and going. 3. Nitish Rana Nitish Rana. (Photo Source: Twitter) Nitish Rana has looked promising for Kolkata Knight Riders as understood by his performance against the side’s opening clash against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Eden Gardens. He emerged as an unlikely all-rounder for his side when he helped his side end the threat of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers early on with his part-time spin. It proved to be a vital component in halting RCB’s momentum. He followed it up with a 34-run knock while chasing. Even though he was not able to convert his performances with the bat into anything impactful in the matches against CSK and Sunrisers, he will continue to be an integral part of the KKR set-up. 4. Deepak Hooda Deepak Hooda of SRH plays a shot. (Photo Source: Twitter) In the two games he played, he did what he was asked to do to the best of his capabilities. In the match against Mumbai Indians, it was his performance that seized the day for Sunrisers Hyderabad that ensured them a 1-wicket-victory when the last few overs were nervy. He narrowed the equation in the last over to make sure SRH were ahead of them. The all-rounder hasn’t been required to bowl as of now and he can be pretty handy with that too. The Baroda player has been in great form and we only got a glimpse of it in the previous week. If he can continue to do so, SRH’s middle-order worries will be close to over. 5. Siddharth Kaul Siddharth Kaul of Sunrisers Hyderabad. (Photo: Surjeet Yadav/IANS) In a bowling line-up that consists of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma and Billy Stanlake, Siddharth Kaul is on the fourth spot of the leading wicket-takers so far. With five wickets under him, Kaul is doing justice to his position in the squad ahead of the experienced Sandeep Sharma. In the match against Rajasthan Royals, he sent back Ajinkya Rahane and K Gowtham. In the match against Mumbai Indians, he diminished the threat of both Evin Lewis and Ishan Kishan. Against KKR, he got the lone wicket of Shivam Mavi. It was clear after his outing against RR that he will prove to be a consistent bowler for his side. After he stepped up against MI, in the absence of Bhuvi, the notion only became clearer.

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IPL 2018: 5 Uncapped Players who rose to the occasion

There have been several performances that have made it a terrific way to begin the tournament, the performance of five uncapped Indian players gets a special mention.

5. Siddharth Kaul

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