IPL 2018 auction: 5 potential biggest uncapped buys

#5 Basil Thampi

Thampi featured regularly for the Lions and bagged 11 scalps in his 12 games

In the most recently concluded edition of the Indian Premier League, Basil Thampi was given the 'Emerging Player' award. Of the eight Indians who had won this award before him, six went on to don the Indian colours.

His consistent performances across every tournament that he featured in rightfully earned him a chance to represent India. Switching from football to cricket at the age of 17, the medium-pacer made his mark in the Syed Musthaq Ali trophy with a ferocious four-wicket maiden. He was bought by the Gujarat Lions at a reasonable price of INR 85 lakhs in the 2017 auction.

Thampi featured regularly for the Lions and bagged 11 scalps in his 12 games. He continued his form in the Duleep trophy as well and even got the opportunity of playing two games for India-A. He bagged three wickets in four balls for India-A against New Zealand, which triggered a Kiwi collapse.

In the recently concluded Ranji trophy, Thampi bowled magnificently to help Kerala reach the quarter-finals. His consistent performances saw him get an India call-up in the recently foregone Sri Lanka T20 series. However, he was always on the bench and thus remains uncapped.