A tall, lean, lively seamer, Sudeep Tyagi burst into the Indian domestic scene with a ten-wicket haul on debut and his roaring success was a sign of things to come, as he finished the Ranji season with 41 wickets, the highest by any bowler across the two leagues. Tyagi's progression to the top was meteoric as he was spotted by the Uttar Pradesh captain Mohammad Kaif at the nets and handed an opportunity in the big league, after the seamer Shalabh Srivastava had drifted into the ICL. He followed his debut heroics with a nine-wicket haul against Andhra and was instrumental in getting UP to the Ranji final. Unfortunately, he suffered a stress fracture to the back and had to withdraw from the IPL, after being named in the Chennai Super Kings squad. Having recovered, he made his way into the India A side for the home series against Australia A and New Zealand A. He finally made his IPL debut the following season in South Africa and his signature moment was the peach of a delivery which castled AB de Villiers. A lively opening spell in the Challenger Trophy final, which sunk India Blue, earned him a national call-up for the ODIs against Australia at home in 2009.<br><b>Kanishkaa Balachandran</b> October 2009