Akash Madhwal

Akash Madhwal is a right-arm pacer who hails from Roorkee, Uttarakhand. He trained alongside Pant under the same coach, Avtar Singh. Madhwal only played tennis ball cricket till the age of 24. He caught the attention of former Uttarakhand head coach Wasim Jaffer in a trial and he was roped into the state side in 2019. He was handed First-Class and T20 debuts in the same year. Madhwal didn’t break much sweat making a transition to leather ball cricket and was named the T20 captain of the Uttarakhand team ahead of the 2023 season. Madhwal’s big break came when he was initially signed as a replacement for the injured Suryakumar Yadav in IPL 2022. The Roorke-born pacer made his debut in the following edition of the tournament and shone with the ball, scalping 14 wickets. His ability to bowl searing yorkers in the death overs caught the attention of one and all. He stole the limelight by finishing with record-breaking figures of 5/5 in 3.3 overs against Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator. He was retained by MI in IPL 2024 but his form saw a dip. The fact that Madhwal can rush batters for pace with his skiddy nature of bowling and his ability to nail yorkers holds him in good stead for the future.