IPL 2019: Ranking the wicketkeepers of all 8 teams
The biggest domestic T20 league is just a few months away. The auction for the 2019 IPL was concluded recently and the squads of all the eight teams have almost been finalized.
Varun Chakravarthy and Jaydev Unadkat were sold to Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals, respectively. These two were the biggest buys at the auction and pocketed ₹ 8.40 crores each. Sam Curran and Colin Ingram are two other players who will be taking home plenty as they were bagged by KXIP and Delhi Capitals for ₹ 7.20 crores and ₹ 6.40 crores, respectively.
Axar Patel, Carlos Brathwaite, Shivam Dube, and Mohit Sharma were the other big earners -- and will be receiving ₹ 5 crores each for their services.
On the wicketkeeping front, many of the teams decided to retain their primary wicketkeepers while there were also some who decided to purchase them.
Prabhsimran Singh was the highest earning wicketkeeper and was sold to Kings XI Punjab at the auctions for a whopping ₹ 4.80 crore. Nicholas Pooran came next and he was also bought by the Punjab-based franchise for ₹ 4.20 crores at the auction.
In this article, we aim to analyze the wicketkeepers of all the eight IPL teams and rank them accordingly.
#8 Delhi Capitals
Rishabh Pant and Ankush Bains are the two wicketkeepers in the Delhi Capitals squad. 21-year-old Pant will be the preferred first choice for the Delhi-based franchise. The Uttarakhand-born player is currently one of the best left-handed talents in the country.
In the 38 matches he has played in the IPL thus far, Pant has scored 1248 runs at an average of 35.66 and a phenomenal strike rate of 162.71.
Even though his batting form is not the best currently, he is fantastic behind the stumps. Pant recently made the record for taking the most number of catches (11) by an Indian wicketkeeper in a Test match (Adelaide Test against Australia).
His batting scores were 36 and 30 in the Perth Test while they were 25 and 28 in the Adelaide Test. The young wicketkeeper-batsman will be hoping to up the ante in the upcoming international matches and convert his starts into big knocks.
23-year-old Ankush Bains has a decent first class record and will be Delhi's back up option.