The Indian T20 team which has been a formidable unit over the past few seasons under the captaincy of both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, has been fortunate enough to be blessed with some of the most gifted cricketers with both the willow and white cherry,  who in turn have enthralled millions of fans with their scintillating performances in the shortest format of the game.

However, when it comes to the T20 carnival in the Indian Premier League (IPL), our very own stalwarts who form part of 'Men In Blue' are drawn into intense battles against each other as don their IPL team jerseys to either play in the same team or lock horns with each other on the green turf in the competitive T20 league.

Over the past twelve editions of the IPL, the money spinning T20 league has been an ideal platform for both the experienced and young Indians cricketers to engage in healthy rivalries and dole out match winning performances to outshine and earn the bragging rights for being the best performers in their respective playing roles.

While the established stars and poster boys of Indian cricket in Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni (now retired) are donning the captaincy hat and leading their respective franchises for yet another season, it is also heartening to see KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer lead franchises in the IPL.

The core members of the Indian team like Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul,Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah happen to be marquee players in their respective franchises and their performances through the thirteenth season in the UAE will be critical to the fortunes of their teams.

Will a Shikhar Dhawan or Rohit Sharma or KL Rahul be more successful in providing the opening salvo up the order for their respective franchises or will a Virat Kohli or Shreyas Iyer be the more dependent sheet anchor in the middle order for their teams?

While All-rounders Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja look to turn out match winning performances with both the willow and the white cherry; the much famed 'Kulcha' spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav look to outfox batsmen with their craft and guile.

So here is a look at where the leading T20 cricketers of the Indian team playing across the eight franchises in Season 13 of the IPL

Shikhar Dhawan (DC) and Rohit Sharma (MI)

The Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are playing for Mumbai Indians (MI) and Delhi Capitals (DC) respectively in IPL 2020 at the UAE.
While Rohit once again leads 4-time champions Mumbai Indians in yet another season in the IPL, Shikhar Dhawan is playing for Delhi Capitals for a second straight season after getting released from SRH.. Both the seasoned Indian openers do don the same role for their respective franchises in the IPL.

While Rohit is partnering South African opener Quinton De Kock at the top of the order for Mumbai Indians, Dhawan has formed a potent opening duo for Delhi Capitals with talented strokemaker Prithvi Shaw in Season 13 of the IPL.

Virat Kohli (RCB)

Indian skipper Virat Kohli is once again captaining Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League and hopes to end the title jinx for 'Red and Black' Brigade.

The prolific run scorer and 'Chase Master' also happens to be the batting mainstay of RCB along with Proteas batting wizard AB De Villiers, Australian opener Aaron Finch and promising youngster Devdutt Padikkal. After a rather lackluster start to the tournament, Kohli found his groove with a well compiled half ton against Rajasthan Royals.



KL Rahul (KXIP)

KL Rahul is not only spearheading Kings Eleven Punjab's batting in the IPL 2020 but is captaining an IPL franchise for the first time in the T20 league.

The elegant right handed batsman opens the innings with his Karnataka statemate Mayank Agarwal. Besides opening the batting, Rahul is also doning the wicket keeping gloves for his team in the IPL. The elegant right handed batsman has been in scintillating run scoring form in the first few games racking up over 300 runs with a ton and 2 half centuries to his name




Rishabh Pant (DC)

The hard hitting left handed wicket-keeper batsman has once again been entrusted by Delhi Capitals to provide acceleration and impetus to the innings.

The southpaw who has established as one of the most destructive power hitters forms part of a lethal middle order with equally belligerent strokemakers in Shimron Hetymer and Marcus Stoinis. Besides his flashy batting, Pant will be the number one glovesman for DC for yet another season.




Hardik Pandya (MI)

The explosive seam all-rounder is once again a key member of the Mumbai Indians franchise led by Rohit Sharma. Pandya along with elder brother Krunal and Windies swashbuckling hitter Keiron Pollard forms a lethal lower middle order for Mumbai.

The hard hitting batsman will look to excel in his role of a finisher down the order by providing his team with those whirlwind cameos. It will have to be seen whether he can bowl after coming back from a back injury.


Ravindra Jadeja (CSK)

Indian's frontline spin all rounder continues to be part of the core nucleus of a highly successful CSK franchise. Jadeja lends and depth balance to the Yellow Army with his all-round abilities both with bat and ball.

While 'Sir Jadeja' looks to chip in with wickets as part of CSK's spin armoury with Imran Tahir, Piyush Chawla ; 'Jaddu' is known to play some quick-fire knocks in the latter stages of the innings. With Jadeja, Bravo and Shane Watson in their ranks; Dhoni-led CSK look well balanced yet again.



Yuzvendra Chahal (RCB)

Yuzvendra Chahal is once again relishing the challenge of being the spinner for Virat Kohli-led RCB in Season 13 of the IPL. Yuzi is the frontline spinner of the RCB spin arsenal which also has plenty of variety with Aussie spinner Adam Zampa, mystery spinner Washington Sundar and Englishman Moeen Ali.

Chahal has lived up to his expectation by bowling with great control, deception and variation to scalp wickets and choke the opponents with

Kuldeep Yadav (KKR)

Indian's left arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav forms part of a potent spin armoury for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) with Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravorthy. The ace leggie has the ability to bamboozle the batsman with his subtle deception in flight and turn.

Jasprit Bumrah (MI)


India's frontline seamer in white ball cricket also happens to be the leader of the pace attack for Mumbai Indians. Bowling with brisk pace , Bumrah's uncanny ability to make the early breakthroughs and also bowl economical spells in the death overs makes him an outright match winner with the ball for MI.

The Indian speedster leads a formidable seam attack which also has world class seamers in Trent Boult, James Pattinson and Nathan Coulter Nile in its ranks.

Mohammad Shami (KXIP)

Mohammad Shami is spearheading the seam attack for Kings Eleven Punjab in IPL 2020 at the UAE. Shami who bowls with brisk pace and generates seam movement has been getting good shape with the new ball and picked up early wickets for the 'Kings'.

The Indian seamer has a new ball partner in the form of Windies seamer Sheldon Cottrell. KXIP would also look upto Shami to create some magic with the old ball as he possesses the ability to reverse swing the white cherry at the death.



Bhuvneshwar Kumar - Bhuvneshwar Kumar was once again leading the pace attack for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2020 but got ruled out of the tournament due to a hip injury

India's Leading T20 Cricketers In IPL 2020 At UAE

Shikhar Dhawan (DC), Rohit Sharma (MI), Virat Kohli (RCB), KL Rahul (KXIP), Hardik Pandya (MI), Rishabh Pant (DC), Ravindra Jadeja (CSK),  Mohammad Shami (KXIP), Kuldeep Yadav (KKR), Yuzvendra Chahal (RCB), Jasprit Bumrah (MI),



MS Dhoni (Retired From International Cricket) - CSK

Bhuvneshwar Kumar (SRH)* - Ruled Out Of The Tournament


Before we round up a quick look at which are  some of the other leading Indian cricketers  representing in IPL 202

Mayank Agarwal (KXIP), Sanju Samson (RR), Shreyas Iyer (DC), Dinesh Karthik (KKR), Axar Patel (DC), Krunal Pandya (MI), R Ashwin (KXIP), Khaleel Ahmed (SRH), Navdeep Saini (RCB), Deepak Chahar (CSK), Umesh Yadav (RCB)