IPL is back and Indians fans have yet another chance to see their favorite players perform in the format they all love to see. IPL may have some best international players in its kitty but it is the Indian players who have made their mark in the previous four edition of this extravaganza. Indians will once again share the work load with others and will have a chance to showcase their talent in one of the biggest cricketing event. Here is a list of Indian batsmen and bowlers who will be in the thick of the action as big things are expected from them.

BATSMEN

Virat Kohli: There cannot be any list of batsmen at the current time which will not have this Delhi sensation in their ranks. Virat Kohli is the only player that Bangalore retained and it paid rich dividend in the last edition of this IPL extravaganza. Kohli is going into the tournament on the back of some sensational innings and will look to replicate his performance the second richest league in the world.

Suresh Raina: He may be struggling at the international cricket, but Raina is one of the most explosive and consistent player when it comes to IPL. Raina is one of the major reasons of Chennai winning two back to back titles. T-20 cricket is Raina’s forte and this season should not be any different from the rest of them.

Yusuf Pathan: The elder Pathan came into the lime light from IPL and will be looking to continue the dream run that he has been having in this competition. Pathan has a strike rate of over 150 in this format and can demolish any bowling attack on his day. He played some tremendous innings for Rajasthan in the first three years, but last year with Kolkata he was not able to make much difference. Pathan will be looking to change that as he has played some good innings in the domestic matches and is going into the tournament with some good momentum.

Virendra Sehwag: Sehwag single handedly won Delhi some matches in the previous edition of the IPL. He has been facing a lot of criticism for the way he played in the last two tours of India and Sehwag will be itching to come back to his dominant self.  The captain of Delhi has some good hitters in his team but when the dasher from Delhi is on a roll than there is no stadium in the world which is big enough for him.

Manoj Tiwary: Tiwary has been warming the bench for his national side even after scoring a century in the last match he appeared in. Tiwary had a brilliant IPL-4 in which he took the Kolkata team to their best performance in IPL history so far. Tiwary would be raring to go in this edition to show his class and further cement his position in the national side.

BOWLERS

Harbhajan Singh: Harbhajan Singh has been side lined from the national team and will be looking to announce his comeback through IPL. He played crucial role in Mumbai’s success and would like to lead from the front in yet another edition. Sachin likes opening the bowling with Harbhajan and will look to continue that as the ‘turbunator’ we all know like challenges.

Zaheer Khan: He has been the pace spearhead for India from a long time and the team from Bangalore will be relying heavily on this left arm pace bowler. Zaheer was one of the shining points in their disastrous tours of England and Australia and will be looking to carry forward the same momentum for his Bangalore side.

Irfan Pathan: Irfan Pathan has made a comeback in the national side on the verge of some solid performance in the domestic circuit. Pathan is well equipped with his slower balls and cutters which can really come handy in the shorter version of the game. His batting is also his plus point and Delhi will be banking on this all-rounder to do well in the coming IPL.

Umesh Yadav: Umesh Yadav was the best bowler on display against the Australians. After the series he was rested from the Asia Cup and this young fast bowler will be looking to take the centre stage in the coming edition of IPL. The in swinging Yorkers that he bowls are lethal and can defeat the defence of the best of the batsmen.

Ravichandran Ashwin: Ashwin has been the best Chennai bowler from quite a long time. Dhoni likes to give Ashwin the ball in the toughest situation and this talented off-spinner has delivered for his captain more often than not. Ashwin was the bowler who dismissed Chris Gayle in the final last year and put his team in the winning situation. Ashwin bowling at the Chennai pitch will be a challenge in itself for any batsman.    

By Gaurav Jha
Indian Sports News