IPL 2025: Who is Aniket Verma, now second in six hitters’ list this season?

A week into the IPL 2025, the in-form Nicholas Pooran of Lucknow Super Giants is on top of the six hitters list before Monday’s game with 13 maximums. Second is an unheralded Aniket Verma, a 23-year-old born in Jhansi and a product of Madhya Pradesh cricket, who is turning heads for Sunrisers Hyderabad with 12 sixes in three matches.

It’s a list which will undergo changes very quickly – what with big hitters like Shreyas Iyer in third spot with nine and Mitchell Marsh and Sai Sudarshan jointly fourth (eight each). However, it was an exhibition of flawless powerhitting during his 74 off just 41 deliveries with five fours and six sixes at Visakhapatnam, albeit in a losing cause against Delhi Capitals which has got the IPL followers talking.

An innings from the debutant which stood out for it’s maturity as the highly rated SRH top order was tottering at 25 for three with Mitchell Starc being on the money. It soon became 37 for four with Travis Head’s departure but then Aniket shored the innings with a 77-run partnership with Heinrich Klaasen and took charge to steer the franchise to a respectable, but below par total of 163. The innings came on the back of a quickfire 35 against Lucknow Super Giants, once again underlining the IPL’s credo: ‘where talent meets opportunity.’

If it was Nitish Reddy who had been a revelation from the SRH camp last year, it’s Aniket this time. The journey has just begun for the youngster but life has not handed him things on a platter so far.  Losing his mother at an age of just three, he was raised by his uncle Amit Verma, who nurtured his passion for cricket. Aniket honed his skills at the Railway Youth Cricket Club before refining his technique further at Ankur Academy with Jyotiprakash Tyagi.

While training at Faith Cricket Club, the Hardik Pandya fan caught the attention of scouts through his consistent performances in domestic cricket. His breakout moment came in the Madhya Pradesh Premier League, where he finished as the leading runscorer with an impressive tally of 273 runs in six matches for the Bhopal Leopards.  He also slammed a blistering 101 off 75 deliveries at the U-23 level against Karnataka but in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he failed in the only game he played with a golden duck. 

Fortunately for Aniket, his performance in his state’s franchise league caught the eyes of the SRH scouts and opened up the doors for the team’s team’s pre-season trials and he grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Tasked with high-pressure simulations, he smashed 72 runs in a six-over powerplay drill and followed it up with an unbeaten 64 in an eight-over chase, helping the SRH management to make up their minds and recruit him for Rs 30 lakhs.

Speaking to Dainik Bhaskar before the IPL started, Aniket said: ‘’I want to meet Hardik Pandya. I will talk to him about fitness, bat flow and his hitting ability. Apart from him, I would like to learn on-the-rise flick shot from Kohli, pull from Rohit and flick shot from Pant. Also, I will talk to Dhoni about patience and common sense. I would like to ask Bumrah how he reads batsmen. He is an expert in this art.’’

The curiosity from the youngster is laudable – and it shows his game sense too. It’s the likes of Aniket or Ashutosh Sharma of Delhi Capitals (whose innings of 66 in an improbable chase against LSG had been one of the best innings this year so far) makes the IPL worth the watch after all these years!