World’s biggest T20 tournament, the Indian Premier League (IPL), has always been a scintillating platform for young and uncapped cricketers to showcase their talent. These players learn all the skills as they share the change room with the best cricketers around the world and get trained by top-quality coaches.
A similar story is expected to be scripted in the upcoming season of IPL, which starts on April 9. Despite the mini-auction, franchises were able to pick quite a few new faces. Speaking about the same, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) Director of Operations, Mike Hesson, has named three uncapped Indian players who, according to him, could grab all the attention.
The three players that Hesson picked are Rajat Patidar, Suyash Prabhudessai and Mohammed Azharduddeen. Hesson started by praising Rajat, who plays for Madhya Pradesh in the domestic circuit.
In the T20s, Rajat has hit six half-centuries from 23 games at an impressive strike rate of 143.53. Hesson said that the 27-year-old batter, who has played 36 matches in First-Class and 37 in List-A, has done pretty well in domestic as they watched him for the past two years. Notably, Rajat was roped in at his base price of INR 20 Lakhs in the IPL 2021 auction.
“It’s his (Rajat Patidar) first IPL. He’s 27 years old, so he understands the first-class system well. He’s a top-quality batsman. He has done well domestically both in Syed Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Hazare. He’s a guy we’ve watched for two years,” said Hesson as quoted by Hindustan Times.
Just like Rajat, RCB bought another domestic talent Azharuddeen for his base price of INR 20 Lakhs. His 137-run knock against Mumbai in the 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy helped him gain the spotlight from all corners. Hesson also mentioned that innings and said the Kerala cricketer has shown what he can do in the shortest format.
“Mohammed Azharuddeen is another one. He’s enterprising, obviously came to the limelight after scoring a hundred against Mumbai in the Syed Mushtaq Ali. It was televised, so everybody must have seen what he can do when he’s at his best,” added the 46-year-old.
Prabhudessai, who hails from Goa, was bought for INR 20 lakhs. He also enjoyed a fruitful season in SMAT 2021. Overall, he has played 17 T20s so far, amassing 357 runs at a strike rate of 148.13 with an unbeaten 80 as his best score. Hesson said that Prabhudessai might be small in stature but is a tremendous player.
“There have only been four players from Goa to come into the IPL, and he’s the fourth. An undoubted finisher. He’s got a full range of shots, plays 360 around the ground. Once again, quite small in stature but has a huge amount of power—a very good athlete. As far as fielding is concerned, we improved last year, but I think you’ll see an even better performance this year,” concluded Hesson.
RCB will play the tournament’s opening game against Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 9 in Chennai.
