Follow UsThe 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to start on March 22 (Saturday) with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) taking on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the tournament opener at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The tournament will have a lot of eyes on the big stars and their performances.
Amongst all the headlines and spotlight, there are some talented players who are going to be experiencing the IPL atmosphere for the very first time. These talents have done a terrific job in make a name for themselves in the domestic circuit. It is now their opportunity to showcase their talent at the grandest stage of cricket.
Here is a look into the players who will be playing their first ever IPL season:
- Priyansh Arya has been the breakout star of the Indian domestic cricket in the last calendar year as the 24-year-old showcased outrageous batting in the Delhi Premier League.
- He was the highest run scorer of the tournament scoring 608 runs in 10 innings at a ridiculous strike rate of 199.
- He had a terrific SMAT tournament With Delhi as he hammered 325 runs in 9 games striking at 177 smashing a century in the opening day of the tournament.
- He was one of the most expensive uncapped signings in the IPL Auction as PBKS roped him for a whopping 3.4 crores.
- Gurjapneet Singh is someone the CSK management had kept an eye over the last couple years due to excellent performance in the TNPL.
- The 26-year-old left arm pacer had two great season of TNPL picking up 22 wickets in 15 games across the two seasons while maintaining a decent economy of 7.3.
- The Ludhiana born cricketer made his debut for Tamil Nadu in 2024 edition of the SMAT, picking up nine wickets in five games at an excellent bowling SR of 11.3.
- His growth as a bowler in the last two years was rewarded with an INR 2.2 crore signing for CSK.
- Vipraj Nigam, the leg spinner from Uttar Pradesh had a breakout UPT20 2024 season where he picked up 20 wickets being the second highest wicket taker in the tournament.
- The 20-year-old made his debut for the UP state team in the 2024 edition of SMAT picking up eight wickets in seven games.
- He also showcased his ability to contribute with the bat as his unbeaten 27 off 8 balls against Andhra helped UP qualify to the knockouts.
- The Delhi Capitals signed him for 50 lakhs to bring a third dimension to the spin attack alongside captain Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav.
- Prince Yadav is coming into the IPL with the same hype as fellow teammates Mayank Yadav and Mohsin Khan who had massive expectations before their debut.
- The right arm pacer made a perfect first impression taking 13 wickets in 8 games in DPL representing Rishabh Pant’s Purani Delli 6 team.
- Post DPL, he made his T20 debut for Delhi picking up 11 wickets in the 2024 SMAT season maintain an excellent economy of 7.5.
- With Mayank Yadav missing the first half of IPL 2025, expect Rishabh Pant to trust the 23-year-old express pacer.
- Satyanarayana Raju has been one of the many stand out pacers in Indian domestic cricket.
- The Andhra right arm pacer signed his first IPL gig after a stellar performance in Andhra Premier League (APL) where he picked up eight wickets in seven games with an excellent economy of 6.2
- The 25-year-old had a good debut season of SMAT in 2024 for Andhra picking up seven wickets in seven games
- The right arm pacer can be given opportunities early on as the MI team will likely not use the services of their premium pacer in Jasprit Bumrah for the first few games.
- Yuvraj Chaudhary made a big announcement the day before the IPL auction scoring a match winning 123 against Karnataka. This played a crucial role in LSG signing up the Uttarakhand opener.
- The 23-year-old left handed batter has had two good SMAT seasons in 2023 and 2024 scoring 244 and 234 runs with 150+ strike rate.
- With an average of 47.3 that he has maintained as an opener in SMAT, Yuvraj can be expected to open with Mitchell Marsh for LSG in some games during the upcoming IPL season.
- Krishnan Shrijith is the most improved player in the Indian domestic cricket across formats in the couple of years.
- Even though he has been in the Karnataka team since 2021, he came under the limelight only in 2024 when he had a terrific Maharaja Trophy followed by a breakthrough SMAT 2024 for Karnataka.
- The 28-year-old keeper batter scored 213 runs in seven games of SMAT 2024, striking at 176. He had one big knock against Uttarakand and followed it up with quick 10-15 balls 30s batting at #3.
- If MI are in a position of dropping overseas keeper Ryan Rickelton, expect Shrijith to take his place and bat at the top order providing quick starts alongside Rohit Sharma.
- Suryansh Shedge was the MVP of Mumbai in their championship winning edition of SMAT in 2024
- The 22-year-old pace bowling all-rounder is touted to be the next Hardik Pandya as he contributed with both bat and ball scoring 131 runs at a strike rate 252 coming down lower in the batting order.
- With the ball, he took eight wickets in seven innings with six of them coming in the slog overs (16-20).
- With so much talent, Shedge will be expected to be the biggest success coming out of IPL 2025 amongst all the new faces who will debut in the upcoming seasons.
