IPL: Top Five Indian Breakout Stars

What makes the IPL such a great sporting event is the opportunities it provides to young cricketers. Every year, there are several young Indian players who turn heads with stellar performances and ultimately end up representing their country internationally. Initially, these so-called "breakout" players represented India purely in their limited overs sides. However, this is now changing and numerous IPL breakout stars have gone on to play for India's Test side.

This article looks at five players who only represented India because of strong IPL performances.

#5. Manish Pandey

Middle-order batsman Manish Pandey was the first Indian to score a century in the IPL. It came in the 2009 edition when he smashed an unbeaten 114 against the Deccan Chargers. Pandey, surprisingly, has played in every season of the IPL but was only considered for selection after the 2015 IPL. In that edition of the tournament, Pandey averaged about 20, but in the season before that, he had averaged 30, so it was clear that he was a very consistent middle-order batsman.

He was given his first opportunity for India when they toured Zimbabwe in 2016 and made his debut in the 3rd ODI. In that match, he scored 71 and looked like a strong batsman to have in India's middle order.

Pandey has now represented India in 45 international matches and could play a role in their 2019 World Cup campaign. The IPL can be credited with the discovering and nurturing of such a talent.

#4. Ravindra Jadeja

Ravindra Jadeja made his IPL debut well before his international career kicked off

A decade ago, there was a young Gujarati batsman included in the Rajasthan Royals' star-studded squad for the inaugural IPL. This 19-year-old talent, Ravindra Jadeja, was playing alongside players like Shane Warne, Younis Khan, Graeme Smith, and Sohail Tanvir in his opening season. Nevertheless, Jadeja was given a chance to bat in the middle to lower order for the Royals and impressed everyone with some eye-catching cameos. Although he did not score that many runs in that season, his potential was clear to see.

At the beginning of 2009, Jadeja was selected in India's limited-overs squad to tour Sri Lanka. He was handed his debut in the fifth ODI and came in to bat with India at 138/6 chasing 320. Wickets kept falling all around him, but Jadeja played a blinding innings of 60* and restored some dignity for India.

While it was not enough to take them to victory, it was enough to assert his position in the Indian middle order. His T20 debut came a few days later as he bowled an economical spell and showed that he was a genuine all-rounder. The rest is history as Jadeja has gone on to enjoy a magnificent career with India.

#3. Yuzvendra Chahal

Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was another product of the IPL

Yuzvendra Chahal is another quality example of an IPL breakout star. It took two stellar IPL seasons for Chahal to be rewarded to a call-up to India's limited overs side. Even then, it was on India's tour of Zimbabwe, where they deliberately took a young and inexperienced squad.

However, he clearly impressed the selectors on that tour and has since enjoyed a relatively uninterrupted run in India's T20I and ODI squads. His 4-0-25-6 against England is probably the highlight of his international career so far, as well as producing a tantalising display of leg-spin along with Kuldeep Yadav in India's limited overs tour of South Africa.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore star has the IPL to thank for all of his success. In 2014, Chahal took an impressive 12 wickets with an economy of 7. He followed this up by taking 23 wickets in the 2015 IPL and 21 in the following year. This impressive haul of wickets at a reasonable economy rate is what gave him his first international opportunity.

#2. Jasprit Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah is the number one ODI bowler in the world

Mumbai Indians star Jasprit Bumrah has gone from being an unknown domestic cricketer to the number one ODI bowler in the world in just a few years. It was his unorthodox action that initially captured the attention of fans, which later turned out to be lethal. Bumrah was very economical in the 2014 IPL, as he went at around 7.5 an over across the eleven matches he played.

Although his efforts in the 2015 IPL were slightly underwhelming, Bumrah was granted a prestigious ODI debut against Australia in January 2016. He was the best of the Indian bowlers on his debut, bowling 10-0-40-2 in a match where Australia piled on 330. Also, he took the prized wickets of Steve Smith and James Faulkner. From then on, Bumrah became known as one of the best fast bowlers India has to offer.

Fast forward a few years and Bumrah has taken the cricketing world by storm. A deadly death bowler with a pinpoint yorker, Bumrah is every captain's dream. His versatility is very impressive as he has shown in India's tour of South Africa, that he is more than capable of being a frontline Test seamer. Bumrah is just 24 and has a long and promising career ahead of him.

#1. Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya has now represented India in all three formats

All-rounder Hardik Pandya has quickly established himself as being a key part of India's international team, across all three formats. He was first noticed after the 2015 IPL when he put in some fantastic performances with the bat.

At that time he was certainly more of a batting all-rounder, which has now shifted slightly. In that edition of the tournament, Pandya scored just 112 runs, but it was his brutal striker rate of over 180 that caught the selectors' attention. This eventually earned him a call-up to India's T20 squad and he subsequently made his debut in January 2016 against Australia. Although he didn't bat in that match, Pandya impressed by picking up the wickets of Chris Lynn and Matthew Wade.

Since then, Pandya has gone on to represent his country in six Test matches and in 38 ODIs and 30 T20Is. He has achieved several great things during his stint in the India side, notably his valiant 76 (43) against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy final. His counter-attacking 93 (95) in the First Test match in South Africa was also particularly memorable. We can look forward to Pandya going on to do greater things but should thank the IPL for giving him the opportunity to be known.