Kolkata Knight Riders has been crowned champions of the 17th season of the Indian Premier League after the Shreyas Iyer side marauded Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.
The IPL 2024 has witnessed many great performances but the outlier of this season was the Indian youngsters who have taken on the big stage to showcase their latent.
Here is the list of top five Indian youngsters who impressed the most in this season.
RIYAN PARAG (RR)
Rajasthan Royals’ Riyan Parag plays. | Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam/The Hindu
The 2024 season was the year of redemption for Riyan Parag who had a coming-of-age campaign for Rajasthan Royals.
Parag held the key in the middle order for RR and went on to amass 573 runs in 14 innings, the highest for his team this season.
The 22-year-old was third in the Orange Cap list overall, just behind Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Virat Kohli and Chennai Super Kings skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Riyan, averaging over 50 this year smoked 33 sixes, the joint fifth most by any batters this year. He registered four half-centuries with the highest being 84* against Delhi Capials.
B. SAI SUDHARSAN (GT)
Gujarat Titans Sai Sudharsan. | Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji/The Hindu
B. Sai Sudharsan was among the few highs for Gujarat Titans in a season of lows. After making it into the finals for the first two seasons since its inception in 2022, GT, this time, was the second team after Mumbai Indians to get eliminated from the playoffs race.
Sudharsan was sixth in the list of highest run-getters in IPL 2024. In just 12 innings, the 22-year-old Tamil Nadu batter had 527 under his belt with an average of 47.90.
After playing the majority season at no. three, Sudharsan, was promoted to open in place of regular opener Wriddhiman Saha.
His 210-run partnership with skipper Shubman Gill against Chennai Super Kings was the joint-highest opening wicket partnership in IPL history.
He scored two fifties and a century.
NITISH KUMAR REDDY (SRH)
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Nitish Kumar Reddy. | Photo Credit: Deepak KR/The Hindu
In a team full of star performers like Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy carved his own niche for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2024.
In 11 innings with the bat, Nitsh averaged a little less than two sixes per innings to hit a total of 21 maximums. Striking at over 140, he scored 303 runs while averaging 33.66.
He did not have the best of the season with the ball, managing only three scalps in seven innings. Nonetheless, the youngster showed glimpses of a genuine fast-bowling all-round, a rare craft in India.
His exploits with both bat and ball and his presence in the field led him to become the Emerging Player of the Season.
ABHISHEK SHARMA (SRH)
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Abhishek Sharma. | Photo Credit: Deepak KR/The Hindu
Among many left-handers who had an impressive IPL 2024 campaign, Abhishek Sharma tops them all by a fair margin.
The 23-year from Punjab recorded the fastest half-century for SRH in just 16 deliveries, equalling the record of his opening partner Travis Head against Mumbai Indians.
He also had the most sixes (42) this season, while his 204.21 strike was the third-best after Jake Fraser-McGurk and M.S. Dhoni among players who have faced over 100 deliveries.
The flamboyant Abhishek scored 484 runs in 16 innings with three half-centuries, with the highest score being 75 not out against Lucknow Super Giants.
HARSHIT RANA (KKR)
Kolkata Knight Riders’ Harshit Rana. | Photo Credit: Deepak KR/The Hindu
Harshit Rana has had a roller-coaster season. After initially receiving criticism for his ‘flying kiss’ celebration, Rana was given a one-match ban and fined 100 per cent of his match fee for repeatedly violating the IPL Code of Conduct.
However, the KKR pacer shut everyone down with his performance with the ball. In just 11 innings, Harshit picked 19 scalps and was the joint-fourth highest wicket-taker alongside his teammate Andre Russell.
His fiery spell of 4-1-24-2 helped KKR bundle out SRH for a paltry score of 113 in the final in Chennai.
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