IPL 2024: From Mayank to Raghuvanshi, grand stage where young talents explode

A little less than a quarter of a way into Season 17 of the Indian Premier League (IPL), familiar names wear the Orange and Purple Caps respectively. But when one looks immediately behind them, the ‘Indian’ in the IPL shines through, with a host of young indigenous talent making an early impact that holds the promise of a future pregnant with possibilities.

Virat Kohli’s tournament-high 203 runs, which have given him temporary possession of the Orange Cap, have come despite Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) losing three of their first four matches. Immediately below him on the run-scoring chart is a young man who is something of an IPL veteran, having made his debut in 2019, but who is only just beginning to translate his potential into stirring performances.

Riyan Parag's brisk scoring

Riyan Parag was once considered a novelty, his sustained stint with Rajasthan Royals (RR) attributed among other things to his Assamese origins – after all, the Royals themselves have a strong connect with the North-Eastern state. In his first four seasons, Parag showed sporadic glimpses of the enormous talent residing in his strong frame, but it’s only now, in 2024, that he has begun to assert himself. The 22-year-old has stacked up 181 runs in three innings, his strike-rate of 160.17 nearly 20 runs per 100 balls better than Kohli’s. Parag has benefitted from the Royals using him in a different role from the past. Tagged as a Finisher and batting lower down the order, Parag has moved up to No. 4, the elevated position giving him the luxury of playing himself in as well as the confidence that there is more batting firepower to follow and therefore he doesn’t have to embrace the twin responsibilities of both batting through the innings and scoring at a brisk clip.

With his exuberant rendition of the Bihu dance each time he has taken a catch or picked up a wicket, Parag was already a household name in the country before this season. Unlike an unheralded young man who burst forth without warning last weekend and, in the space of eight searing overs, is already being talked about as a potential pick in the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup, beginning in less than two months’ time.

Mayank Yadav's pace

While Bangladeshi maestro Mustafizur Rahman is the leading wicket-taker for now with seven scalps from three outings, it’s the one who immediately succeeds him in that list who has taken the tournament by storm. The unassuming 21-year-old answers to the name of Mayank Yadav, has limited experience of senior representative cricket and hadn’t played an IPL game previously despite having been picked by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in 2022. Until last Saturday, he was another in a long list of Indian pace bowling hopefuls. Now, Mayank has surged into a class of one, wowing all-comers with his blistering pace and extraordinary control that have reduced some of the best in the world to walking wickets.

On debut against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Lucknow, Mayank impressed by repeatedly touching 150 kmph and once bowling in the mid-156s, finishing with three for 27 from his four overs. It was largely on the back of his sustained hostility that KL Rahul’s men surged to their first victory of this campaign. Three nights later in Bengaluru, Mayank affirmed that he was the real deal, that his first-match heroics had little to do with beginner’s luck. Against a more established batting group than Punjab’s, Mayank had the Royal Challengers Bengaluru batsmen running for cover. He stunned Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green with his express pace; Maxwell’s intended pull off a ball that came on to him much faster than he expected merely resulted in a catch in the circle while Green’s bat was still on its way down when the ball curled past the outside edge and smashed into his off stump. It made for exhilarating viewing. Even RCB’s fans, as partisan as they come, couldn’t help but admire the young man’s craft and control. Three for 14 from four overs took him to a second Player of the Match award in as many games. This IPL, so easy, Mayank might well say.

Mayank has been the most visible of the young Indian pacers to have put their hand up this season. Notable among the rest are the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) duo of Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora, a great luxury to possess and a definitive indication of the shift in the balance of power. Hitherto, apart from two or at the most three Indian players, franchises have tended to depend largely on their complement of four overseas players to get the job done. The increasing non-reliance on the ‘foreign’ stars is the greatest positive to have emanated from the first two weeks of IPL 2024. The big names from abroad will continue to rake in the moolah and their performances followed closely, but the lesser-known Indians are no longer satisfied with just making up the numbers. Their stats might not be overwhelming just as yet, but as far as impact goes, they have more than held their own.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi's memorable debut

Take Mahipal Lomror, for instance. While RCB have struggled to eke out even a smidgeon of runs from the celebrated trio of skipper Faf du Plessis, Maxwell and Green, Lomror has embraced the role of the Impact Player with gusto, playing a significant role alongside Dinesh Karthik in the team’s only win to date and threatening single-handedly to undo the damage wreaked by Mayank the other night with a 13-ball 33. The fearlessness with which the young Indians are beginning to express themselves was best exemplified on Wednesday night (April 3) by Angkrish Raghuvanshi, the right-hander from Mumbai playing for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

One of the heroes of India’s Under-19 World Cup triumph in the Caribbean in 2022, Raghuvanshi became the youngest batsman to score a half-century in his first bat in the IPL, at 18 years and 303 days. That he needed only 25 deliveries to do so speaks to a maturity and an explosiveness that don’t come too frequently or to too many.

The past is strewn with youngsters who have meteorically burst on to the IPL firmament and faded away as rapidly. There are more vibrant support and nurturing structures in place now and therefore if these newbies don’t build on their wonderful starts, they will only have themselves to blame. The positive is the influx of exciting talent the selectors can cherry-pick from, a definite win-win for Indian cricket.