Nitish Rana

A career that threatened to fall away was resurrected by a successful 2017 IPL campaign. That certainly helped Delhi batsman Nitish Rana emerge as one of the brightest prospects in Indian cricket. A modest showing in the 2016-17 Ranji season where he scored 404 runs in 8 games at an average of a little over 33 had not helped his cause. The Vijay Hazare competition also saw him being dropped after three failures but came the runs in IPL 10.

The IPL couldn't have come at a better time for the young batsman as he rekindled his batting form with a string of match-winning scores at the start of the season, a prime reason for the Mumbai Indians to make a head-start to their eventual victorious campaign. The batsman later tapered off and even lost his spot in the team, but the two-time IPL medal winner surely got his career back on track.

The following season at the domestic level was much better for the southpaw. He churned out 613 runs in 8 games at an average of 55.72 in the 2017-18 Ranji season. And was snaffled up by Kolkata Knight Riders before the mega auction ahead of IPL XI.