The IPL 2022 is moving into its business end with all the teams having played at least 9 matches each. Every game now has the potential to have an effect on the final top four and top two standings.
Batsmen have had the best of the times in the IPL with pitches offering a decent amount of assistance to the pacers early on and now the spinners have started to make a larger impact. Yet, while international superstars Jos Buttler and KL Rahul have been on top of their game, a number of uncapped Indian batters too have made their mark and placed a strong contention to be soon given a national cap.
Here are the top 5 uncapped Indian batsmen in the IPL 2022 so far:
Rahul Tripathi
The calls for Rahul Tripathi’s selection in the Indian T20I team have been larger than they have after his performances in the first half of IPL 2022. Tripathi was KKR’s main batsman in the middle-overs last season helping KKR reach the final; this year in his new franchise, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Tripathi has once again donned the hat of being the middle-overs enforcer.
His strike rate of 180 in the middle-overs is the second-best for any batter to have scored over 100 runs in this phase of the game. Overall he’s scored 228 runs at a strike rate of 172.
Abhishek Sharma
21-year-old Abhishek Sharma has perhaps surpassed almost everyone’s expectations this season, and is currently the fourth-leading run-scorer so far behind Buttler and KL Rahul. The left-hander has amassed 324 runs in 9 innings at an average of 36 and strike rate of 134.
With Kane Williamson donning the anchor role, Abhishek has been impressive in playing his attacking game. Abhishek has notched up two half-centuries and both of those came at a strike rate of 150 or more.
Tilak Varma
In his debut IPL season itself, Tilak Varma has been one of the two best Mumbai Indians batsmen. With Kishan and Rohit both failing to give a platform, Tilak has often had to build his own along with Suryakumar.
The left-hander has aggregated 307 runs in 9 innings at an average of 43 and strike rate of 137. He has stroked a couple of handsome half-centuries and there have been a number of crucial 20s and 30s as well, however, lack of support from other MI batters have meant Varma’s runs mostly have gone in vain
Rahul Tewatia
Rahul Tewatia has been one of the best finishers of the tournament so far. 131 of his total 190 runs have come in the death overs at a strike rate of 201. He’s won Gujarat Titans a couple of last over run-chases and has been their trusted batter in the slog overs.
Tewatia was called into India’s T20I squad last year versus England but failed the fitness tests. Now, having played a significant role in Gujarat’s dominance this season, the southpaw could once again get into the national team setup.
Sai Sudharsan
While the Gujarat Titans have most of their areas covered, Sai Sudharsan completed the final piece of the puzzle – the number 3 slot where the likes of Vijay Shankar and even Hardik Pandya himself had batted.
20-year-old Sudharsan had started his debut season with scores of 35, 11 and 20 but was dropped. He returned into the eleven, at number 3, vs Punjab Kings and held the innings together with a valiant knock of 65 runs from 50 balls in GT’s total of 143 as others around him threw their wickets away.
