IPL Auction 2019: 5 lesser-known T20 stars of 2018 who can become million dollar babies

One of the most endearing things of the Indian Premier League is it serves as a breeding ground for young and obscure talent around the world.

In the initial years of the IPL, the franchises went for box-office names to beef up their sides. But, it has often been seen that teams' containing a plethora of superstars seldom fare well.

As the years have progressed, the Franchise owners do their homework of scouting young and obscure talents from around the world.

Players like Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav all shone to limelight while playing in the IPL and went on to become a regular part of their respective sides. Unknown prodigies give an X-Factor to a franchise.

Ahead of the 2019 IPL auctions which are scheduled to be held in Jaipur on December 18, around 1,000 players from all over the world have registered for 70 available slots.

Today, in this article, we'll have a look five lesser-known cricketers who can stir a bidding war in the auction.

#1 Nicolas Pooran (Windies)

The swashbuckling wicket-keeper batsman from the Caribbean shot into the reckoning after he scored a whirlwind 53 off 25 balls in the third T20I of the Windies' tour of India, at Chennai.

It has been a year to remember for the 23-year-old. Pooran was on fire in this years Caribbean Premier League, smashing 267 runs for Barbados Tridents at a strike-rate of 144.32 which earned him a call-up to the national side.

He continued his swashbuckling form in the recently concluded T10 League where he finished as the leading run-getter for his side, the Northern Warriors, scoring a staggering 324 runs in nine innings at a swashbuckling strike-rate of 245.45. Pooran can be an ideal pick for the likes of Sunrisers Hyderabad who have struggled to find a swashbuckling wicket-keeper in the past, especially after having released Wriddhiman Saha from the squad.