Abhimanyu Mithun

A right arm medium-fast bowler, Abhimanyu Mithun is a man of pace and a good model for youngsters to follow. A discus thrower till the age of 17, he caught the eye of RCB coach Ray Jennings in trials before the 2009 IPL season and was drafted into the team for his ability to operate at a good pace consistently.

He made a cracking first class debut for Karnataka, taking 11 wickets against Uttar Pradesh, including a hat-trick in the second innings to help the team to a 185 run win. Mithun made his ODI debut against South Africa in 2010 and his Test debut against Sri Lanka in the same year. He returned to the domestic scene when senior bowlers were declared fit for the next series.

Besides being a Karnataka regular, Mithun is a part of the extended national bowling set up, often featuring in India A games against touring sides and in the premier first class tournaments like the Irani Trophy, Challenger Trophy and Deodhar Trophy.

He came to the fore in IPL4, forming a lethal pace attack with Zaheer Khan and Sreenath Aravind as RCB stormed their way to the finals.

RCB Highlights

RCB vs. MI, Chennai (2nd Qualifier), 2011
Not a great match for him in the bowling department but he redeemed himself with his fielding. Kieron Pollard had smacked a Vettori delivery high in the air and it was about to make an almost vertical descent just inches past the boundary rope in Mumbai's dugout at long-off. Mithun stationed himself right at the edge of the rope, watched the ball all the way into his outstretched hand, held on tight and pivoted on his heel to stay inside the field and celebrated an amazing catch.