IPL 2023: 5 Promising youngsters who have been mediocre so far

Well, the IPL 2023 has reached its halfway stage. The tournament so far has been dramatic and action-packed. Like every season, the local Indian talent as usual has been the biggest allure. Players like Dhruv Jurel and Suyash Sharma have grabbed everyone’s eyeballs.

However, some of the promising young names have sadly been underperforming. Despite being faithfully backed by their franchises, these cricketers haven’t set the stage on fire. Consequently, a few of them have been dropped as well.

Therefore in this list, let’s check out 5 promising youngsters who have been mediocre so far.

Prithvi Shaw

This youngster has been associated with the Delhi franchise since IPL 2018. The cricketer has been their frontline opener for many seasons. His primary role so far has been to provide blistering starts to his team. Last year, the opener had a reasonable IPL 2022. Before this season, the batter was expected to score oodles of runs for DC.

However, so far in the league, the 23-year-old has just been struggling. From his six appearances, Prithvi has just scored 47 runs. Sadly twice he’s been dismissed for two ducks. In DC’s last game against SRH, Prithvi was dropped as well. His early dismissals have also discouraged Delhi to dominate in the power plays. Comprehensively, this Mumbai lad might now be a benchwarmer for the rest of the season.

Agonizingly, before the IPL, Prithvi had a decent Ranji season. From his 10 innings, he scored 595 runs out of which included 379 against Assam. Somehow this cricketer in the last few months hasn’t been batting at his best.

Overall, since 2018 onwards, this swashbuckling batter has been deemed a work-in-progress IPL player. Well known for his attacking batting in the early overs, Prithvi has to transform into an aggressive match-winner like Jos Buttler. Optimistically, this brief snub might just unlock Prithvi’s full potential shortly.

Narayan Jagadeesan

Before IPL 2023 auction, N Jagadeesan was in a red-hot form. The cricketer in the Vijay Hazare trophy was batting to break as many records as possible. In the 50-over tournament, Jagadeesan scored 830 runs at an average of 138.33. A total of five centuries including a highest score of 277 was amassed by this cricketer. Even in the Ranji season, Jagadeesan aggregated runs at an average of 48.54.

Therefore when KKR bagged him for INR 90 Lakh, the 27-year-old was expected to fire. But unfortunately, Jagadeesan has just scored 70 runs from his five appearances. The cricketer somehow hasn’t applied himself whenever he has come for batting. Consequently, the purple army has been struggling the most to find its best top-order combination.

However, the Kolkata head coach, Chandrakant Pandit might give Jagadeesan a longer rope to exhibit his full potential. During his formative years, Jagadeesan has trained under the KKR head coach. Also during his CSK days, Micheal Hussey often vouched for this lad’s extraordinary potential.

Hence hopefully this Tamil Nadu cricketer might still produce a breakthrough IPL season despite his recent malfunction.

Riyan Parag

Riyan Parag has been with the RR franchise since IPL 2019. In his initial days, Riyan was deemed to be a hard-hitting lower-order batter. Since IPL 2019, Rajasthan has profusely backed his all-round skills. However, the cricketer in return has just given decent returns.

Before IPL 2023, the 23-year-old had a good domestic season. In his Ranji appearances, Riyan scored 400 runs in 13 outings. Even in the Vijay Hazare trophy, the batter amassed 552 runs at an average of 69 including three centuries. Therefore, it was assumed that in IPL 2023 finally, Riyan might have a blockbuster season. However contrastingly, the youngster has underperformed so far.

Presently from his five outings, Riyan has just scored runs at an awful average of 13.50. Though the cricketer has been batting in the lower middle order (mainly at no.5), Riyan hasn’t made any impact. In fact to initially back up, the RR management were sending Shimron Hetmyer after this lad.

Overall in RR’s last game, this batting all-rounder was dropped. Apparently, some experts also feel Riyan still has some time to emerge as a robust match-winner for the pink army. All in all, this talented player should use these failures as a springboard to come back stronger.

Abhishek Sharma

Last year for SRH, Abhishek Sharma was one of their biggest silver linings. Though the franchise didn’t reach the playoffs, this cricketer emerged as a 400-run bank. In his 14 appearances in IPL 2022, Abhishek scored 426 runs as a top-order batter.

But sadly this ongoing IPL, the youngster hasn’t performed so far. After missing initially, Abhishek was infused into playing XI as a middle-order player. Since Harry Brook has started opening the batting, this 23-year-old has been given middle-order batting responsibility.

In response, Abhishek in his five outings has only aggregated 72 runs. Especially in SRH’s last game against DC, the batter was promoted to chase a reasonable total of 145.

Overall, this Punjab cricketer has been with the orange army for a while now. Maybe if this lad again opens the batting, SRH might then fetch the best out of him.

Sarfaraz Khan

Irrefutably, when it comes to red-ball cricket, Sarfaraz Khan has been a batting sensation. Even in the last Ranji season, the cricketer scored 556 runs including three centuries. However, in white-ball cricket, this youngster hasn’t been much outstanding. Last year for DC, Sarfaraz made six appearances scoring 91 runs including a highest score of 36*.

Yet again in IPL 2023, the 25-year-old hasn’t been exhibiting his full potential. From his three games, Sarfaraz has only aggregated 44 runs. Since DC’s top-order barring Warner has been malfunctioning, Sarfaraz himself hasn’t grabbed chances to cement his place. Hopefully with Delhi now bagging its first two wins, they’ll expect Safaraz to start firing. Maybe in T20 cricket, he’s just one big knock away to unleash his full potential.

Overall in the DC dugout, this Mumbai cricketer is expected to receive many more chances. Optimistically he still can make IPL 2023 his first hiking season.