Ishan Porel

An upcoming pacer from Bengal, Ishan Porel grabbed headlines with figures of 4/17 against Pakistan in the ICC U19 World Cup semifinal at Christchurch. Built at 6' 3", Porel isn't quite as quick as a Kamlesh Nagarkoti or a Shivam Mavi, his fast-bowling colleagues in the U19 team, but he operates on accuracy, extracting extra bounce to draw out the edges. And for that, Porel routinely took the new ball for India in the tournament, with Nagarkoti coming in as first-change.

Porel injured himself in the World Cup tournament opener and sat out for the rest of the league matches, before coming back in the quarterfinal against Bangladesh. He immediately impressed, bowling 5 overs for 8 runs, and then went on to hoist his highlight performance against Pakistan in the next game.

Born in Chandannagar, about 50 kms from Kolkata, Porel started his cricketing journey at the National Sporting Club in his hometown. He came to Kolkata in 2012 for a cricket clinic, and all inspired by Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, Porel auditioned for batting. He later took up fast bowing on the advice of the coaches, who saw a pacer in his lanky frame.

Porel made his List A debut for Bengal in the 2016–17 Vijay Hazare Trophy and went on to make his first-class debut for the state side in the 2017–18 Ranji Trophy. He featured in Bengal's win over Delhi in the Cooch Behar Trophy final and earned a call-up for Youth ODIs against England at home. He was called up to the U19 World Cup side in December 2017.