The Indian Premier League (IPL) is upon us and, with it, another season of stormy hitting, lurid jerseys, global stars and frenetic action.
As the tournament progresses, it will give Indian cricket that most precious of gifts: the discovery of the country’s next big cricket stars. So many illustrious names have travelled this route to the national team: Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma… the list goes on.
Whose name will be added to it this year?
The one that comes first to mind is Auqib Nabi. Since cricket’s global shift towards the 20-overs format, IPL has replaced the Ranji Trophy as the tournament in which stars are unearthed. But, occasionally, there comes a player whose Ranji performance is so fierce that they shoot forward regardless of an IPL appearance.
Twenty-nine-year-old Nabi’s record 60 wickets in the 2025-26 season, which took Jammu & Kashmir to a fabulous first-ever Ranji title, certainly makes the cut. Snubbed at the IPL auctions despite superb performances in past Ranji seasons, Nabi has now been bought by Delhi Capitals. His coaches and teammates think this will be a breakthrough season for the highly disciplined fast-bowler. An India call-up feels inevitable.
This will, meanwhile, be a pivotal season for Chennai Super Kings (CSK). They finished bottom of the rankings last season, weighed down by an ageing squad. With MS Dhoni as their eternal mascot, the team has often relied on experience over youth, hoping sharp cricketing brains will trump big-hitting brawn. But that era would appear to be at an end.
Batters and batting coaches have made giant strides in big-hitting training protocols, so that batters are now able to hit almost any ball for a six. Every season of IPL has seen more boundaries hit than the previous one. A boundary was hit every 4.67 balls last season, with over 3,500 hit in all, the most for a single season in the league’s history.
CSK has shown a willingness to embrace this change, signing the reigning king of big hitting, Sanju Samson, 31, and shelling out record sums for rookies with promise such as Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma (each bought for ₹14.2 crore, the highest ever for an uncapped player).
Sharma is 19 and made his First Class debut last year. He comes from Bharatpur in Rajasthan, where his family sold farmland, property and jewellery and then took loans to fuel his dream.
Veer is 20 and made his First Class debut last year too. The left-arm spinner and all-rounder from Shahjipur in Uttar Pradesh was scouted from a local T20 league.
Watch out also for Mangesh Yadav, 23, acquired by Royal Challengers Bengaluru for ₹5.2 crore. He comes from a small village called Borgaon in Madhya Pradesh and was scouted from the state T20 league. And watch out for Ashok Sharma, 23, who hit the magic 150 kmph mark while bowling in domestic tournaments this year. Sharma is from a village near Jaipur and almost gave up on cricket after he failed to make the transition from Rajasthan’s U19 to U23 squads. Then he joined a fast-bowling talent hunt and reached the final, got scouted by Rajasthan Royals, became their net bowler (in 2024) and then a bench player (2025) before Gujarat Titans bought him for ₹90 lakh this season.
There’s plenty of promise. The suggestion of drama. What’s not to love?
(Email Rudraneil Sengupta on rudraneil@gmail.com. The views expressed are personal)
