3 emerging bowlers in the Maharaja Trophy who can earn an IPL contract ft. Shubhang Hegde
The recently-concluded Maharaja Trophy, which was won by Hubli Tigers by beating Mysore Warriors in the final, threw up some amazing performances.
Some of these came from youngsters with the ball in hand who managed to outsmart the opposition batters with their guile and accuracy.
Although it is said that Twenty20 is a batsman's game, bowlers play a critical role in it by trying to pick up as many wickets as they can. We saw much of the same in the aforementioned tournament as well.
The bowlers helped their teams tremendously in trying to pick up as many wickets as they could and, more importantly, not leak too many runs while at it.
The Indian Premier League, which is perhaps the biggest franchise league in the world at the moment, will be the ultimate destination for all these bowlers who are waiting in the wings.
In this list, we bring to you three emerging bowlers, including Shubhang Hegde, who can be picked up by IPL franchises in the forthcoming season.
#1 Abhilash Shetty (Gulbarga Mystics)
Left-arm seamer Abhilash Shetty has truly come into his own in the Maharaja Trophy.
Turning up for the defending champions of the Maharaja Trophy, the Gulbarga Mystics, Shetty regularly brought the ball back into the right-handers and caused trouble for them.
Shetty was quite dangerous swinging the ball away from the left-handers too. He bowled well in the slog overs as well and made sure that his skipper, Vijaykumar Vyshak, could count upon him whenever the going got tough.
The 25-year-old has put his hand up for selection in the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as well as the forthcoming IPL.
He ended up as one of the leading wicket-takers in the Maharaja Trophy, with 22 scalps to his name in eleven matches.
#2 L Manvanth Kumar (Hubli Tigers)
A lot of the Hubli Tigers qualifying for the final of the Maharaja Trophy had to do with their bowling attack. Led by L Manvanth Kumar, the Tigers managed to decimate their opponents more often than not.
The right-arm medium pacer has the ability to hit the right areas and rarely gives any looseners away to the batsmen.
His ability to hit the hard lengths as and when asked to do so by his captain will put him in the limelight with the scouts for IPL teams.
Skipper Manish Pandey strangely held him back until the twelfth over in the final. However, he scalped three wickets in the end, repaying the faith that was put in him.
Manvanth also has the uncanny habit of picking up wickets in challenging situations. No wonder Pandey is always all praise for him. He ended the tournament as its leading wicket-taker!
#3 Shubhang Hegde (Bengaluru Blasters)
Left-arm spinner Shubhang Hegde has often left the opposition batters in a fix. His ability to turn the ball from a length has endeared him to the supporters of the Bengaluru Blasters, who otherwise had a woeful season.
Shubhang Hegde is also a good exponent of the arm ball as well as the one that goes the other way.
Although he has so many varieties up his sleeve, the 22-year-old, who has played four first-class matches for Karnataka so far, knows how to be patient with his line and length.
Shubhang Hegde's abilities with the bat in hand also come in handy at times, and it is a big positive that prospective IPL franchises will be keen to exploit. He finished with twelve wickets in the Maharaja Trophy with a fascinating economy of 6.53.