Saurabh Kumar

An upcoming star from UP, Saurabh Kumar is an all-rounder, who has taken giant strides in his short first-class career thus far. Once employed with Indian Air Force, Saurabh plied his trade for Services before migrating to UP in 2015 - a move which worked wonders for him. 304 runs and 17 wickets in his debut Ranji Season including a 10-wicket haul in his maiden outing saw the youngster grabbing headlines. He followed it up with a stellar 2017-18 season emerging out as the leading wicket-taker for UP with 23 scalps and his stand-out performance with the bat came against Baroda where he struck a record partnership with Kuldeep Yadav for the eighth wicket. Both of them recorded centuries and helped UP secure a thrilling draw.

The disbanded Pune franchise bought him in the IPL auctions for 10 Lakhs, although he didn't feature in a single game, Saurabh developed his skills and in the Duleep Trophy same year, he made heads roll grabbing 19 wickets in three matches. His stocks continued to rise in the next year too as he ended up with 51 wickets in ten matches and played a vital role in UP's successful journey to the Semi-Finals in the Ranji Trophy