Tilak Varma has been a consistent performer for MI in the middle order ©BCCI/IPL
INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE, 2023
Trends Talk: Rise of the uncapped Indian middle-order batters
Rise of Indian middle order batters
One of the refreshing developments in this edition of IPL has been the emergence of Indian middle-order batters - an area where the national team have been founding wanting often in the recent past. India, often picked batters who have done well at the top of the order for their IPL franchises, and played them in middle order roles for the national team - trying to fit square pegs to round holes - only for them to flounder. Considering players batting between #4 and #7, the uncapped Indian batters have done a touch better than the Indian players as the table below suggests.
Middle order (#4 - #7)
| Player type | Inngs | Avg | SR |
|---|---|---|---|
| India Internationals | 113 | 23.64 | 142.34 |
| Overseas players | 130 | 25.39 | 150.95 |
| Uncapped Indians | 101 | 24.14 | 144.4 |
Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Tilak Varma and Dhruv Jurel are among some of the names who have excelled in their middle order role giving India multitude of options to pick from and probably reboot their batting approach in the format.
Most runs in middle order (#4 - #7) by uncapped players
| Player | Inngs | Runs | Avg | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rinku Singh | 10 | 316 | 52.67 | 148.36 |
| Jitesh Sharma | 10 | 239 | 26.56 | 165.97 |
| Tilak Varma | 8 | 233 | 46.6 | 161.81 |
| Ayush Badoni | 6 | 143 | 35.75 | 152.13 |
| Abhinav Manohar | 5 | 112 | 22.4 | 140 |
| Abdul Samad | 5 | 111 | 37 | 119.35 |
| Dhruv Jurel | 7 | 100 | 20 | 185.19 |
Sikandar Raza played a key role in PBKS's last-ball win against CSK ©BCCI
Batters sacrifice anchor approach for short-sharp cameos
Something unique occurred last Sunday in IPL - a first of four 200+ totals in a day. Chennai batted first and posted 200 in the day game and Punjab
