The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League will be pretty important for all the teams as they underwent a lot of changes through releasing and recruitment of new players during the IPL auction. In Part one of our series: ‘One Player to Watch out for each franchise’, we had a look at one player each from Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad. So, let’s have a look at one player to watch out from each of Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kings XI Pubjab and Rajasthan Royals in part two of our series.
Kings XI Punjab
Sarfaraz Khan – Ever since Sarfaraz Khan burst onto the scene as a teenager who was breaking records in school cricket, fans across India kept an eye on his progress. Although the prodigiously talented batsman showed his talent on occasion for India U-19 or RCB or his current team Kings XI Punjab, he was never consistent. Part of such inconsistency has to be attributed to mismanagement while Sarfaraz was also culpable for not maintaining good fitness levels. Just when it was looking like Sarfaraz was lost to Indian cricket’s wilderness, this ongoing Ranji Trophy season has seen a unbelievable turnaround from him. The Mumbai middle-order batsman has plundered runs for fun to score one triple hundred, one double hundred and another big century while his other two fifties don’t seem monumental enough during such a prolific season.
Also Read: IPL 2020: One player to Watch out for from each team | Part 1: CSK, MI, DC and SRH
It just seems like the hunger is back within Sarfaraz’s mind to fulfill his undeniable talent and this would come across as a brilliant sign for his IPL team Kings XI Punjab. Although Sarfaraz did pretty well last season with 180 runs in five knocks, Punjab will be expecting much more from their marauding talent this time around. Even when he scored 63 against CSK in Chennai last year, Sarfaraz showed how funky and frustrating he could be for the opposition captain and bowlers. Except a slight weakness against hard-length bowling, Sarfaraz has the ability to dominate the other kind of bowlers while targeting peculiar areas in the field.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Tom Banton – Is anyone surprised to see this name of Tom Banton in the list of players to watch for ahead of the 2020 IPL season? We highly doubt it! The Englishman is one of the hottest properties in T20 cricket right now and it came to everyone’s shock as to how Kolkata Knight Riders acquired without much tension during the Auction in Kolkata. While the hesitation behind going big at unproven English or Australian batsmen is understandable due to some examples in the past, Tom Banton certainly looks like a special talent who could make a mark for himself in the IPL.
The delightful stroke-maker, Banton first made the cricketing world sit up and take notice during the 2019 T20 Blast while playing for his home county Somerset. Along with Babar Azam, Banton forged an unstoppable opening combination as bowlers were reduced to mere admirers of the quality of batting on display. At the end of the season, Banton had scored 549 runs in 13 games at a strike-rate of 161.47 and this performance had already ensured a BBL contract with Brisbane Heat. Even in Australia, Banton went onto make a solid impression with 223 runs.
Bet on IPL cricket for Kolkata Knight Riders with odds of 13/2 of being the title winners
Although the 21-year-old couldn’t make the best use of his limited opportunities for the English national team, a bright future lies ahead of him. With the tracks at the Eden Gardens now providing good pace and bounce, Banton should also enjoy the conditions on offer if he gets to play for KKR. He will also be helped by the fact that England skipper Eoin Morgan will also ply his trade for KKR this season.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Devdutt Padikkal – For long, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s fans have asked for local Karnataka batsmen to be awarded a consistent chance in the playing XI. Even though that hasn’t eventualised in a lot of years, the loyal RCB fans could see a young talent in the form of Devdutt Padikkal flourishing in front of them this year. While it remains to be seen whether RCB opt for Devdutt Padikkal or Josh Philippe as Aaron Finch’s opening partner, no one can deny the southpaw’s talent especially after the kind of 2019-20 season that he has had.
Bet on IPL cricket for Royal Challengers Bangalore with odds of 13/2 of being the title winners
The 19-year-old opener set the stage ablaze during both the Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali tournaments last year. After topping the scoring charts in the Vijay Hazare Trophy with 609 runs, Padikkal capitalized on his rich vein of form with 580 runs in the domestic 20-over SMAT Trophy. To no one’s surprise, Karnataka won both the tournaments with Padikkal playing the biggest role in their success trophy. The Kerala-born batsman’s biggest strength would be his long levers as it allows him to go for lofted shots with ease. Padikkal has the ability to manipulate the field against spinners quite easily and this could come handy while playing with someone like Virat Kohli. While one hopes that the pressure doesn’t get onto him, the whole of India and not just RCB will be rejoicing if Padikkal does well in the upcoming IPL season.
Rajasthan Royals
Kartik Tyagi – Another teenager and another budding star who will be aiming to make his debut in the IPL this year, Kartik Tyagi is one of the most exciting young fast bowlers in the country as of now. Most cricket fans would be aware of him as he was one of the key cogs of the Indian team that almost won the U-19 World Cup a couple of weeks ago. In six matches, the Uttar Pradesh seamer picked up 11 scalps and this resulted in plenty of esteemed former cricketers like Ian Bishop and Tom Moody ending up highly impressed with his skillset at such a young age. Tyagi married the typical fast bowler’s aggression with some quality swing bowling at speeds of 140 KPH and above. The highlight of Tyagi’s bowling was his willingness to bowl yorkers at any point of a match.
With Jofra Archer ruled out for the majority of the season, Rajasthan’s pace-bowling stocks have taken quite a hit and this is where a door opens for Kartik Tyagi to hog the limelight with his performances. A spot in the playing line-up might not be available right from the first game as Rajasthan do have some experienced campaigners in the form of Varun Aaron, Jaydev Unadkat and Ankit Rajpoot but if the 19-year-old works his way up the ranks to put in impressive performers, it could be quite a spectacle. Interestingly, if Tyagi does make his debut in the IPL this season, it will be his first-ever T20 game given that the young fast-bowler has only played one First-Class match and six List-A games.