Ankit Rajpoot

While still very young, seamer Ankit Rajpoot, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, was rated highly by former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad who was the state's bowling coach for two seasons. Rajpoot was a part of the strong Chennai Super Kings set-up in the 2013 and 2014 IPL seasons. Given the level of competition there, opportunities to play were hard to come by, but Rajpoot was happy to tap into the cricketing brain of the franchise's bowling coach, former Australia pacer Andy Bichel.

During UP's successful campaign in the 2016 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India's domestic T20 competition, Rajpoot was the tournament's third-highest wicket-taker with 14 wickets at an average of 14.21. In the IPL auction the same year, Rajpoot was one of several uncapped Indian players to earn big, with Kolkata Knight Riders shelling out Rs 1.5 crore to buy him.
ESPNcricinfo staff