It is no surprise that India is the biggest cricketing nation in the world. BCCI has the biggest annual expenditure for Cricket and Indian players also receive the highest salaries. In fact, it is estimated that the Indian Premier League (which is organized by BCCI every year) will overtake USA’s NBA and even Europe’s UEFA Champions League in terms of revenue generated in years to come.
The simple reason for this is that the number of cricket fans in India is unsurprisingly huge. Cricketers are placed at the same position as Bollywood stars in our nation and players like Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni are worshiped by the masses. It is thus understandable that children from every nook and corner of the nation aspire to become a cricketer one day. The youth setup of the Indian cricket fraternity is therefore very strong.
India have been the powerhouses of the U-19 age group for this very reason and many of the nation’s stars have been discovered from India’s U-19 team itself. Virat Kohli, Shardul Thakur, Ravindra Jadeja were all once part of India’s U-19 teams and they were later called up by the senior team.
How IPL promotes India U-19 talents
The introduction of the Indian Premier League revolutionised Indian cricket forever, especially for the Youth. More and more young Indian players started to take part in the Auctions and they were bought by IPL franchises for staggering prices, changing their lives forever. Indian U19 players are also included in that list of youngsters. Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw, Sarfaraz Khan, etc were all scouted by Indian franchises after their brilliant performances in the U19 World Cup.
The U19 World is being held this year as well in West Indies (U19 World Cup 2022) and India have a very promising side once again and have all that it takes to lift the trophy.
The IPL franchises will be definitely looking forward to the performances of the Indian players in the ongoing tournament and some of them can be sold for pretty high prices.
Let us have a look at 5 players who can be sold for big bucks in IPL 2022’s Mega auction.
1. Harnoor Singh – Harnoor Singh is one of the most promising talents from this year’s India U-19 side. He is the key batsman of the side and has produced some brilliant knocks in the recently played friendlies and in the U19 World Cup as well. In India’s second match of the 2022 U19 World Cup, he was their highest run scorer. He scored 88 runs off 101 deliveries. However, he made only 1 runs against South Africa but then again every batsman has good and bad days.
Harnoor prefers to play as an opener and will be a desirable addition to any IPL team. He is probably the best young batsman out there that the IPL teams can bid for.
2. Angkrish Raghuvanshi – Angkrish Raghuvanshi is Harnoor’s opening partner and a very dependable batsman indeed. Although he does not have the attacking fervor that Harnoor possesses, he can very well be bought as a Shubman Gill’esque player as his playing style matches very much to the Ahmedabad franchise batsman.
Raghuvanshi scored 79 in the second match against Ireland and impressed netizens with his batting skills but failed to deliver in the first match against South Africa. His 88 off 119 knock against Bangladesh in the Triangular series and his unbeaten 56 runs against Sri Lanka in the U-19 Asia cup are perhaps his best performances for the national team till date. He can also bowl as a slow left arm orthodox bowler.
3. Raj Bawa – Raj Bawa is an allrounder and probably best suited for the IPL format. He can bowl 3-4 overs at ease and is a good batsman as well/ He scored 42 off 64 against Ireland and picked up 4 big wickets against South Africa. He can also play as a pinch hitter if the situation demands so.
He is a left arm batsman and also a left arm medium fast bowler. His performances against South Africa, Pakistan (25 and 4/56) and Afghanistan (43* and 1/66) were probably his bests in the recent past. Sunrisers Hyderabad and KKR who have a knack for young players are highly likely to bid for Raj Bawa. His future performances in the upcoming matches will decided his fate.
4. Yash Dhull – Yash Vijay Dhull is the captain of the India U-19 and is suited for all the formats. He is equally good as Harnoor Singh and has enormous potential. Unfortunately he tested positive for COVID-19 right before their first match of the World Cup against Ireland and thus missed the match.
His knocks against South Africa (82 off 100), Australia (50* off 47) and West Indies (52 off 67) show just how good he is and he will definitely attract a number of suitors in IPL 2022’s mega auction. Moreover, India’s U19 captains have always been sold for big bucks in the last few seasons of IPL.
Teams like Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings who are in search of a middle order batsman can compete for Yash Dhull. CSK already have a young Ruturaj Gaikwad and if they acquire Yash Dhull too, they will very much be securing their future.
5. Vicky Ostwal – Vicky Kanhaiya Ostwal is the best bowler in the current India U19 squad. He is simply too good which can be very well understood by his fabulous spell of 5/28 against South Africa. He has averaged 2.5 wickets in his last 6 matches and is on a run. He might very well become the highest wicket taker of the 2022 U19 World Cup and that would be a great addition to his already brilliant resume.
He is a slow left arm orthodox bowler and can be used as a mystery spinner as well. In the recent past, players like Mayank Markande, Rahul Chahar, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, etc have made their name as mystery spinners and 19 year olf Vicky Ostwal can be the same this year.
Also Read:- TATA IPL 2022: Updated Squad list for all 10 Teams and Strategy for Mega Auctions