{"id":573789,"date":"2026-03-30T08:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T08:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/573789\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T08:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T08:23:08","slug":"sophomore-boys-mhatre-rathi-arya-aniket-and-others-under-the-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/573789\/","title":{"rendered":"Sophomore boys Mhatre, Rathi, Arya, Aniket and others under the spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"

The IPL<\/a> is a maker of stars: players come into the spotlight, find overnight fame, and sometimes, become contenders for the India team. Not everyone, but enough of them. But to get there, it’s what they do on the less glitzy stages of domestic cricket. Here’s a look at eight players who made a splash in last year’s IPL, and what they have been up to since.<\/p>\n

Innings: 6, Runs: 325, Avg: 108.33, SR: 166.66
During the last IPL, Mumbai’s 17-year-old Ayush Mhatre became the youngest man to ever play for CSK. He smacked 32 in just 15 balls then, and looked like the next big thing for the franchise. Since then, he has gone on to captain India at the Under-19 World Cup. He found form at the right time, scoring back-to-back fifties in the knockouts to secure the trophy for his team. He also scored two rollicking centuries in last year’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, showing that he can translate his pedigree to senior cricket.<\/p>\n

Priyansh Arya was among the runs after a lean patch of form\u00a0Associated Press<\/p>\n

Innings: 11, Runs: 271, Avg: 24.63, SR: 158.47
Priyansh Arya arrived at the IPL last year as if he had been there forever, hitting the fifth-fastest hundred in the league, off 39 balls against CSK, and added two more fifties in a breakout season that ended with 475 runs. He hasn’t been able to emulate his best form since then – he crossed fifty just once in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy – but broke into the India A side ahead of the recent T20 World Cup.<\/p>\n

Digvesh Rathi brought out his signature celebration twice this evening\u00a0Associated Press<\/p>\n

Innings: 5, Wickets: 7, Avg: 21.42, ER: 7.5
Legspinner Digvesh Rathi brings with him a lot of swag: long hair, attacking spells through the middle overs, the notebook-themed celebrations… which brought him attention at last year’s IPL as much as his 14 wickets did. Soon after, he was in the headlines for the wrong reasons when he found himself in a confrontation with Nitish Rana<\/a> in the Delhi Premier League. But he has done his best, quieter work in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: he improved on his IPL economy rate of 8.25 with a more impressive 7.50 in the tournament, racking up vital spells for Delhi along the way even if he didn’t get too many wickets.<\/p>\n

Vipraj Nigam got rid of Sunil Narine\u00a0AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Innings: 6, Wickets: 13, Avg: 15.84, ER: 7.35
The 21-year-old legspin-bowling allrounder can rip it big and hit it bigger. His IPL debut season was defined by his match-turning contributions: be it his 2 for 18<\/a> at the high-scoring Chinnaswamy, a 2 for 27<\/a> at Chepauk, his 17-ball 39<\/a> in a one-wicket win against LSG, or his 19-ball 38<\/a> against KKR. He did not replicate his batting form for Uttar Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy – he barely needed to bat, and had an average of 7.66 when he did – but more than made up for it with his frequent match-turning spells when he had the ball in hand.<\/p>\n

Anshul Kamboj gets into his delivery stride\u00a0PTI<\/p>\n

Innings: 11, Wickets: 21, Avg: 17.66, ER: 8.59
Haryana’s Anshul Kamboj has had highs and more highs in the past year. He went from being an uncapped hit-the-deck seamer for CSK in May to being handed his Test cap after a late call-up on India’s tour of England in July. Slotting into the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy a few months later, he picked up 21 wickets in the tournament – the second-highest tally in its history – as he guided Haryana to the final.<\/p>\n

Vignesh Puthur is mobbed by his team-mates\u00a0AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Innings: 4, Wickets: 6, Avg: 20.66, ER: 8.85
A left-arm mystery spinner is a precious commodity in T20s, and Rajasthan Royals will feel they picked up the 25-year-old Vignesh Puthur for a steal at INR 30 lakh ahead of this year’s IPL. He turned heads on his debut for MI last season, when he picked up 3 for 32 against CSK. A stress reaction in his shins cut his campaign short, but he has since recovered and even featured in Kerala’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign. He hasn’t found much luck – or many wickets – including in his most recent outings in List A cricket, where he nurses a bowling average of 233 after five matches.<\/p>\n

Ashwani Kumar closed out the game for Mumbai Indians\u00a0BCCI<\/p>\n

Innings: 9, Wickets: 8, Avg: 36.12, ER: 9.96
In quick time last season, Ashwani Kumar transformed from a 24-year-old unknown, with just four T20s under his belt, to MI’s go-to Impact Player after returning 4 for 24 on debut. The left-arm seamer is proficient with his yorkers, and can mix it up well with his slower ones. However, he remains an erratic talent. It comes with the territory when handed the ball in the death overs: he finished IPL 2025 with an economy rate of 11.31, and playing for Punjab in last year’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, continued to be expensive at 9.96.<\/p>\n

Aniket Verma’s 43 took Sunrisers Hyderabad past 200\u00a0BCCI<\/p>\n

Innings: 9, Runs: 120, Avg: 15, SR: 164.38
At the age of 23, Aniket Verma made his IPL debut for SRH last year playing just his second senior men’s game. If his first knock – 36 off 13 balls, featuring five sixes – turned heads, his second one was even more promising, a 41-ball 74. His form in between IPL seasons made for less pleasant reading, as his big-hitting ways failed to translate into big knocks in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Madhya Pradesh. However, slotting back in at No. 7 in SRH’s tournament opener, it was like he had never been away. He turned the tide of their innings with a characteristically rapid 18-ball 43.<\/p>\n

NOTE: Figures from all official T20s played between the end of IPL 2025 and the start of IPL 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The IPL is a maker of stars: players come into the spotlight, find overnight fame, and sometimes, become…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-573789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}