Jasprit Bumrah had already made his T20 debut for Gujarat, prior to recording 3/32 on his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut in 2013, wherein he got the wicket of Virat Kohli.
By the time Hardik Pandya scored a match-winning 31-ball 61 against Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2015, he had already represented Baroda in all three formats.
Rinku Singh had already established himself as a reliable source of runs for Uttar Pradesh, before his last-over blitzkrieg against Gujarat Titans last season, where he struck five consecutive sixes.
Whilst domestic cricket remains the undisputed source of making ripples, IPL serves as an unparalleled platform for young Indian talents to earn recognition through their talent.
As the anticipation builds for the new season, let us have a look at five new names, who could set the IPL 2024 stage ablaze:
1. Sameer Rizvi (Chennai Super Kings)
Chennai Super Kings seldom indulge in extravagant spending. More so, if the player lacks experience, aligning well with their reputation as the 'Dads' Army'. Yet, deviating from one of their integral and more successful commandments, the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led outfit found it fit to spend Rs 8.40 crore on a 20-year-old uncapped Indian batter – Sameer Rizvi.
The decision prompted immediate questioning – why?
Sameer Rizvi, as it turns out, was among the standout performers of 2023’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT). He scored 277 runs in seven matches at an average of 69.25, which includes an unbeaten 46-ball 75 against Tamil Nadu – a team that featured bowlers with international experience, in the likes of Washington Sundar, T Natarajan and R Sai Kishore.
That, however, is not the sole reason behind Rizvi costing CSK an arm and a leg.
At the UP T20 League, where he led the Kanpur Superstars team, Rizvi was the third-highest run-scorer with 455 runs. The right-handed power-hitter struck 35 sixes – joint-highest in the competition, and also had a strike rate of 188.8 – highest among the top fifteen run-scorers.
2. Kumar Kushagra (Delhi Capitals)
Rishabh Pant was an 18-year-old teenager in 2016, when he joined the Delhi franchise, erstwhile using the ‘Daredevils’ suffix. Eight years later, the franchise has signed another daring teen wicketkeeper-batter, who has the potential to follow a similar career trajectory – Kumar Kushagra.
Hailing from Jharkhand’s Bokaro, Kushagra caught Delhi Capitals’ Director of Cricket, Sourav Ganguly’s attention whilst representing East Zone in the 2023 Deodhar Trophy, where he scored 227 runs in five matches, including an 87-ball 98 against North Zone.
Subsequently, he was called to Delhi Capitals camps in three different cities, and he excelled in all of those. Further accentuating his allure was his performance in last year’s Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he scored 164 runs in seven matches.
Besides the Capitals, Gujarat Titans were also interested in signing the 19-year-old, but for a steep fee of Rs 7.20 crore, Kushagra will be seen representing Pant’s team in IPL 2024.
3. Shubham Dubey (Rajasthan Royals)
Unlike Rizvi or Kushagra, Shubman Dubey is not a teen prodigy, who always seemed to be meant for the big stages. Quite the contrary, in fact, for at 27, he hadn't even represented Vidarbha in domestic cricket, let alone securing an IPL contract.
Now at 29, besides being a mainstay for his domestic team, Dubey is also a member of the Rajasthan Royals squad, having a contract worth Rs 5.80 crore per season.
A couple of factors were at play in Dubey triggering a full-blown bidding war between the Royals and the Delhi Capitals.
Firstly, he was Vidarbha’s second-highest run-scorer in the last edition of SMAT, with 221 runs in seven matches, at a seemingly inexplicable average-strike rate combination of 73.66 and 187.28 respectively. Among the major highlights of his campaign with a match-winning 20-ball 58 against Bengal, taking experienced pacers in the likes of Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar to the cleaners.
Besides that, he also had an explosive stint at the Rajasthan Royals’ trials in Nagpur, leaving a lasting impression on the franchise’s Director of High Performance, Zubin Barucha.
4. Robin Minz (Gujarat Titans)
Robin Minz’s case is – for the lack of a better word – compelling. The 21-year-old wicketkeeper-batter is yet to make his domestic debut for Jharkhand, but fetched bids from four teams at the IPL 2024 auction – Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and the team that ultimately secured his services for a Rs 3.60 crore bid – Gujarat Titans.
The first tribal cricketer in IPL, Minz had excelled in Mumbai Indians trials, on the back of explosive knocks in the zonal U-19 competition. Recently at the BC Mohanty Memorial T20 Invitational Tournament, he scored a 35-ball 73, hitting seven sixes against a bowling unit featuring known IPL names like Vaibhav Arora and Mayank Dagar.
Son of a retired Army personnel who now works as an airport security guard, and a protégé of Chanchal Bhattacharya, the childhood coach of MS Dhoni, Robin is known for his gigantic sixes, and the Titans will be hopeful of witnessing those in the upcoming season.
5. Saurav Chauhan (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
Having focused on players with lucrative contracts till this point, it might be a dampener to know that Saurav Chauhan did not cause any hullabaloo at the auction. Royal Challengers Bangalore were the only team interested in his signature, which they secured for his base price of Rs 20 lakh.
So, why is he a player we must be monitoring at the 2024 IPL?
Firstly, for his performances at the 2023 SMAT. With 251 runs in eight matches, which were scored at a strike rate of 184.55, Chauhan was Gujarat’s leading run-scorer. Particularly noteworthy was his explosive innings of 61 runs against Arunachal Pradesh, and whilst the opposition might have been among the weaker teams in the Indian domestic circuit, Chauhan took only 18 deliveries to score those runs, courtesy of five fours and six sixes. In his 19-match T20 career, he has scored 464 runs at an average of 152.13.
Secondly, for his performances at the 2023 Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he was not as consistent, but still accumulated 184 runs at an average of 46. Chauhan scored an 82-ball 108 against Assam.
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