Overseas players with chances of bagging an IPL contract for the first time

It's that time of the year again when players from all around the world will hope that one of the franchises-10 in number for the first time- will bid for them and they'll earn the lucrative deal to play in the world's best T20 event, the Indian Premier League. A total of 370 Indian players and 220 overseas players will be up for grabs in what promises to be an action-packed event in Bengaluru on 12th & 13th February. Let's look at some of the names who come from other countries and will be eager to grab an agreement with one of the teams:

1. Ben McDermott- In the recently concluded Big Bash League 2021-22, although his team Hobart finished at the 5th spot, McDermott finished the season with 577 runs (4th highest ever) as the highest run-scorer as well as the player of the tournament. His consistent run in the BBL has constantly been making pressure on the ageing openers Warner and Finch for the spot in the national team. He also became the first player to smash consecutive centuries in BBL, when he compiled two excellent unbeaten innings of 127* and 110*.

As shown in the above graphic, McDermott has an average of 47.6 striking at 158.31 in middle overs in last 3 seasons of BBL. While he ranks 5th in the list of highest strike rate, he stands on the 9th position in terms of average in the middle overs of last 3 seasons of BBL. He also showcases an impressive average of 69.9 and strike rate of 140 vs spinners.

While he played both at 4 and opening position for Hobart, he was more successful at the top. Teams would want to bring him at a cheaper rate compared to some other top billings, but mind you, he can be as successful as them, if not more. Along with that, he brings an extra quality with himself: he's a wicketkeeper too. So don't be surprised if a franchise spends some amount for acquiring his services.

2. Odean Smith- A player who can bowl fast, very fast - upto 145 km/hr and is capable of hitting long, very long sixes sounds too good to be true. But yes, every team's dream player does exist in the name of Odean Smith. A part of the U-19 World Cup winning West Indies squad of 2016, burst onto the scene recently and has taken the cricketing world by fire.

He was the joint second highest wicket taker in the 2021 edition of Caribbean Premier League, where he picked 18 wickets at an economy of 7.54 with best figures of 3/20 for Guyana Amazon Warriors. Although his batting skills are still very raw, but he's extremely powerful-just like his idol Andre Russell- and can tonk a few out of the park, which he showcased in the Abu Dhabi T10 league where he scored 139 runs off just 49 balls.

It's no secret that IPL teams love all-rounders a lot. And them being an extremely rare breed of cricketers, they often go for high prices in the IPL auction. Odean Smith looks set to be one of those eye catching picks where a lot of the teams will try and bring him in their squad.

3. Dewald Brevis- It's very rare that you might see hype and excitement for an under-19 player who's not from India. But the kind of tournament a young Proteas batsman named Dewald Brevis had, one can easily identify the talent he is.

He had a record breaking season in which he scored 506 runs in 6 matches- the most in the history of a single U-19 World Cup edition. He had excellent scores of 65, 104, 96, 97, 6 and 138 where scored 2 centuries and narrowly missed out on 2 more. Moreover, he's also a very handy off-spinner and finished with 6 wickets.

He has very clearly modelled his game on South African legend AB de Villiers which was on clear display the day he batted against India. Even his teammates wrote a message saying 'Baby AB' on a placard when he reached his 50. On the evidences he showed in this tournament, he shouldn't find it difficult to break his way to the South African National team.

The Protean prodigy had said in a chat with ICC that, "I'm such a big fan of IPL and I would love to play the IPL for RCB. I love RCB because Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers were there. I'm a big fan of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers". So the team in red, would be itching to get this talented youngster in their roster but other teams would also be vying to not make it easy for RCB to get him.