The Indian Premier League has witnessed the emergence of young domestic talent since its inception in 2008. In particular, the Indian national team has benefitted from the talent emerging across the many IPL franchises in recent years.
From the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh to Avesh Khan and Harshit Rana, we have seen Team India being spoilt for choice when it comes to the selection for the pace attack.
Even though we have only seen the first few games of the 2026 IPL season, some talented young quicks are already attracting a lot of attention due to their express pace, swing, variations, and wicket-taking ability. Here, we take a look at five young Indian pacers who have impressed in the IPL so far in the 2026 season.
Hailing from Punjab, Gurjapneet Singh moved to Tamil Nadu in his teens to pursue his cricket in the southern state. He missed the entire IPL season in 2025 due to injury, but the Chennai Super Kings kept faith in him and retained him ahead of the 2025 mini-auction for INR 2.2 crore.
Singh is a 27-year-old left-arm pace bowler who represents Tamil Nadu in domestic cricket. In 16 domestic T20 games, he has taken 22 wickets with an average of 25.04 and an economy rate of 9.20, having registered best figures of 3/18. He produced an impressive bowling performance on his Ranji Trophy debut, returning figures of 6/22.
The tall pacer made his IPL debut against the Delhi Capitals at the Chepauk on April 11. His first wicket arrived in the shape of DC captain Axar Patel off his very first ball to mark a successful debut. Singh ended the game with figures of 1/39 in his four-over spell, as CSK won their first game of the season.
Although he needs to improve his economy rate, Gurjapneet Singh has a high-arm action and is able to extract both swing and bounce. He consistently bowls over 130 kmph and is one of the bowlers to look out for in this IPL season.
A pace sensation from Bihar, Sakib Hussain was initially scouted and bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the 2024 IPL season. However, he didn’t find game time there and was released the following year. He was picked up by SunRisers Hyderabad ahead of the 2026 IPL season for his base price of INR 30 lakh.
Hussain is a hit-the-deck kind of pacer who regularly clocks 140 kmph+ speeds. He represents the state of Bihar in the domestic circuit. So far he has played 14 domestic T20 matches and has taken 14 wickets at an economy rate of 9.87 and best figures of 4/20.
Hussain made his IPL debut for the SunRisers on April 13, 2026, in the match against an unbeaten Rajasthan Royals side. He had an incredible debut outing and took four wickets in the match, helping SRH win the match by 57 runs. He made smart bowling variations against RR, particularly using the slower deliveries and off-cutters to great use.
The 21-year-old has express pace, and for his age, he could definitely bowl faster and develop more with experience. Truly, the sky is the limit for this young quick.
A fast bowler hailing from Vidarbha, Praful Hinge was bought by SunRisers Hyderabad before the 2026 IPL for his base price of INR 30 lakh.
Hinge plays for Vidarbha in the domestic competitions and made his Ranji Trophy debut against Puducherry in October 2024. His first-class record is already impressive, as in ten matches (19 innings) he has taken 27 scalps at an average of 26.66 and an economy rate of 2.85. Though he had only played two T20 games when SRH decided to pick him up, they were more impressed with his first-class performances.
Hinge made his IPL debut on April 13, 2026, against the Rajasthan Royals and couldn’t have dreamed of a better start. Hinge became the first bowler in IPL history to take three wickets in his first over, getting rid of the dangerous Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, an in-form Dhruv Jurel, and hard-hitting Lhuan-dre Pretorius, breaking the back of the RR top order, from which they couldn’t recover as SRH won the game by a big margin.
SRH bought Hinge as a backup to their mainline pacers, with Pat Cummins injured and Jaidev Unadkat not really performing up to standard. But they might just have found a top opening bowler who likes to get bounce from the wicket and has variations to trouble the batters.
Prince Yadav was bought by the Lucknow Super Giants ahead of the 2025 IPL season. However, he only played six games last season, not being able to impact results much and managing just three wickets. However, the right-arm pace bowler has become a regular part of the LSG pace attack this season.
Representing Delhi in the domestic circuit, Yadav rose to fame through the Delhi Premier League in 2024 when he took 13 wickets in ten games for the Rishabh Pant-led Purani Dilli 6 team. These performances earned him a white-ball debut for Delhi. He was impressive in the Syed Mushtaq Trophy as well, taking 11 wickets in his debut SMAT campaign at an incredible economy of 7.54, helping Delhi reach the semi-finals.
This season in the IPL, the 24-year-old has already hit the ground running as he has picked up six wickets in four games with LSG, who have won two games in a row after an opening-day defeat.
Yadav has express pace and bowls consistently at 140+ kmph. He is also a skiddy customer and possesses variations in his bowling. If he can continue his consistent performances, he could be another great find for the national team.
Hailing from a small town in Rajasthan, Ashok Sharma is another pace sensation who has arrived on the national stage. He was initially scouted by KKR and brought in ahead of the 2022 IPL season for INR 55 lakh. However, he wasn’t given any game time and was released the following year.
Sharma then moved to RR in the 2025 IPL auction for INR 30 lakh but spent time on the bench yet again. Despite his lack of playing time for the other two franchises, the Gujarat Titans got him for INR 90 lakh ahead of the 2026 IPL season.
Ashok Sharma represents Rajasthan in the domestic circuit and made his first-class debut in October 2025 against Jammu & Kashmir. The 23-year-old pacer has played 14 domestic T20 games, taking 26 wickets at an incredible average of 18.80 and an economy rate of 9.55. His best figures read 4/16.
Sharma made his IPL debut for GT on March 31, 2026, against the Punjab Kings. He has gone on to play four games for the Titans this season, taking four wickets. However, he has troubled the opposition batters with express pace, having already bowled at a speed of 154 kmph this season and managing to regularly bowl past 145 kmph. He can also swing the ball both ways.
With more experience in the IPL and domestic tournaments, Ashok Sharma can be a real asset not just for the Gujarat Titans but also for Team India in the future. He is a genuine fast-bowling prospect we are really excited about and hope he can make the jump from the IPL to the national team in the near future.
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