Sudeep Tyagi

Tall and lanky, Sudeep Tyagi is amongst the promising quick bowlers who could form a large part of India's future plans with his nippy pace. Tyagi burst onto the scene with a fabulous domestic season in 2007-08 with 41 wickets at 21.63 in the Ranji Trophy. He had been spotted by Mohammad Kaif and Gyanendra Pandey in the nets, who recognized the spark they saw, and was fast-tracked onto the higher levels, making an unexpected debut for Uttar Pradesh when the first choice seamer, Shalabh Srivastava joined the ICL. He seemed destined for bigger and better things when injury laid him low and he seemed a pale shadow of his former self in the next season.

However, like many other players, the IPL gave him a stage to showcase his potential and catapulted him back into the reckoning. He was signed up by the Chennai Super Kings, and though he couldn't play in the inaugural IPL due to his injury, he impressed in the second edition held in South Africa. After his spectacular Ranji debut (6/46 and 4/46 for match figures of 10/92), Tyagi had come back on track.

He continued to be in the selectors' eyes with good displays. At the Emerging Players tournament held in Australia, Tyagi helped India clinch the title with 4/74 in the final and emerged the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 14 wickets. He then helped his team - India Red - to win the Challenger Trophy in 2009 with an incisive spell in the final of 3/20 from 6 overs. Tyagi had earlier won the best domestic bowler prize in the BCCI awards for 2007-08, and his Challenger showing ensured that a national call-up was not far off.

He was picked in the squad for the ODI series against Australia in 2009, but made his international debut in the following tour when Sri Lanka visited India. He played one Twenty20 match, and then made his ODI debut in the final match at Delhi. Though the match went down in infamy, being abandoned due to an unfit pitch, Tyagi had the satisfaction of bagging his first international wicket - that of Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara. He also travelled to Bangladesh for a tri-nation tournament before getting a game against South Africa at Ahmedabad. Unfortunately, that also happens to be Tyagi's last international though he was picked on a few occasion after that only to warm the benches.

Though he has the ability to consistently hit speeds of close to 140 kmph, and extract movement, Tyagi somehow has not managed to be a regular in the side.

Even in the 2014 IPL auctions he went unsold meaning that he still has to do better in the domestic circuit to grab eye-balls.

by Cricbuzz Staff