Prithvi Shaw

This is the thirteenth year of the IPL  and due to the unprecedented times we live in  the event was moved to Dubai to play in a bio secure bubble  across  three venues  Dubai , Abu Dhabi and Sharjah from September 19th  to November 10th.

As of October 8th, twenty one matches have taken place where Mumbai Indians & Delhi Capitals lead the ladder with four wins each with the latter having  currently played one game less.

Indian Premier League, 2020

19 September – 10 November

TEAM MATCHES WON LOST PTS NRR
MUMBAI INDIANS 6 4 2 8 +1.488
DELHI CAPITALS 5 4 1 8 +1.060
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD 6 3 3 6 +0.232
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS 5 3 2 6 +0.002
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE 5 3 2 6 -1.355
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS 6 2 4 4 -0.371
RAJASTHAN ROYALS 5 2 3 4 -0.826
KINGS X1  PUNJAB 6 1 5 2 -0.431

The viewing figures for the first of week of the tournament have broken all previous records where 87million households and over 270million people have tuned in.

There has been some fantastic cricket so far including two tied matches that were decided via a Super Over.

The big money players have shown glimpses Rohit Sharma and Quentin De Kock have been superb at the top of the order for Mumbai Indians  giving license to the likes of Pollard , Pandya and Krunal in the middle order while the bowling has been solid with the experience of Bumrah and Boult.

Delhi Capitals currently look the team to beat with an all Indian top four of Shaw, Dhawan, Pant and Shreyas Iyer supported by Marcus Stoinis and the twin SA seam attack of Rabada and Nortje.

Some of the auction big boys are yet to make huge impact early like the 3m dollar man Pat Cummins for KKR who this season became the highest franchise signing superseding Ben Stokes of previous seasons.

Cummins has only taken two wickets in four matches for KKR and his economy rate in over 9 an over.

The show pony team of RCB have started far better than 2019 when they lost their opening six fixtures although their seam bowling options look a little bare as Dale Steyn is not the bowler of old.

But the story of this IPL so far must be about the amount of superb Indian talent coming through.

The IPL franchise has improved the sport as a global spectacle over the last decade and the next generation production line is not just knocking on the door its taking the sport to another level with zero fear of failure.

India’s  U 19  World Cup winning team of 2018  was  captained by  Prithvi Shaw he has gone on  to play for the national team in all three facets and  has already made his stamp in this seasons  IPL  scoring  179 runs at a strike rate of  147.93 opening the batting for the strongly fancied Delhi Capitals.

Vice-captain of the afore mentioned  U19 team was  Shubman Gill who opens the batting  for the Koltata Knight Riders has already scored a superb 70 not out  anchoring a winning chase against the Sunrisers in Match 8.

Others in the class of 2018 were Shivam Mavi   and Kamalesh Nagarkoti  who are part of the Kolkata Knight Riders bowling attack  and Abhishek Sharma  who  starred in a superb partnership  with  Priyam Garg  of  77 in seven overs after  their team the Sunrisers Hyderabad had lost their three top international batting stars Bairstow  Warner and Williamson , the latter in an unfortunate run out mix up.

Priyam Garg is only nineteen and was part of  the India U19 team which played in the World Cup of 2020 in Bangladesh  in that  squad  was  Kartik Tyagi  who is part of the Rajasthan  Royals bowling attack with  Jofra Archer.

Also throw in nineteen-year-old leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi who was top wicket taker in the U19 World Cup and now under the tutelage of leg spin legend Anil Kumble is a regular for the Kings X1 Punjab team .Also add   opening batsman Devdutt Padikkal  who still at only twenty years of age holds down a place in a Royal Challengers Bangalore side which includes the likes of   Virat Kohli , AB De Villiers and Aaron Finch.

The likelihood is that other youngsters including   Yash Jaiswal an  eighteen year old batsman for the  Rajasthan Royals will get  their chances before the tournament is over as some sides rotate to keep their stars for the knock out stages of the competition which completes with the final in Dubai in November.

The abundance of Indian young cricketing talent is being blooded in the best quality franchise event in the sport. Sharing dressing rooms and being nurtured early by the best players and coaches there are plenty of candidates to become the next  Rohit Sharma , Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni.