Haren
India’s talent pool has only been getting bigger with every passing season. The ongoing Duleep Trophy is a testament to it, as even after losing 16 players to the India Test squad, each of the four teams look strong on paper. It has led to the competition for places raise to never-before seen levels, with players only a couple of innings or series of low scores away from their place being questioned. While it definitely leads to players being on their toes all the time, one cannot overlook the overwhelming talent at the disposal that is making the selectors job even more harder.
One of the main reasons is players emerging from all parts of the country and not just the traditional centres, from Sriganganagar in Rajasthan and Rohtas in Bihar to Kodagu in Karnataka to North 24 Parganas in West Bengal. “If you look at Indian cricket today, Indian cricket is extremely strong, it’s extremely powerful. One of the big reasons for that is that talent comes from everywhere, from all over the country,” India’s former captain and head coach Rahul Dravid said in Bengaluru recently. The Indian Express takes a stock of India’s enormous talent pool.
Top order (Openers & No 3)
Just over 12 months ago, there were way too many openers in the domestic circuit who were vying for spot in the national team, that the likes of KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal and Ruturaj Gaikwad decided to try their luck by dropping down as middle-order batsmen. Gaikwad has since returned to opening, but like many others is in the queue.
In the Test squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill.
In the mix: Sai Sudharsan (TN), Ruturaj Gaikwad (Maharashtra), Abhimanyu Easwaran (Bengal).
Making the noises: Musheer Khan (Mumbai), Sudip Kumar Gharami (Bengal), Suyash Prabhudessai (Goa), Pradosh Ranjan Paul (TN), Rohan Kunnummal (Kerala).
Fallen off the pack: Prithiv Shaw (Mumbai), Priyank Panchal (Gujarat), Yash Dhull.
Middle order
It is the most crowded pack. At any given time, there are multiple players auditioning for each slot that in case they make it to the national squad, some have to bat outside their usual position. With a wicketkeeper coming at No 7, it leaves just three spots in the XI.
In the Test squad: Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan.
In the mix: Baba Indrajith (TN), Suryakumar Yadav, Devdutt Padikkal (Karnataka).
Making the noises: Tilak Varma (Hyderabad), Rinku Singh (UP), Ricky Bhui (Andhra).
Fallen off the pack: Rajat Patidar (MP), Shreyas Iyer (Mumbai), Karun Nair.
All-rounders (Seamers)
It is a spot India have been waiting to fill patiently for decades. Since Kapil Dev, none of them has come close to being a frontline all-rounder. Hardik Pandya tried for a year before injuries made him give up on Test cricket. In the domestic circuit, there are a few in the pack, with Nitish Kumar Reddy high in the pecking order. It is one area where India are so short that Shivam Dube is featuring in the Duleep Trophy.
In the Test squad: None.
In the mix: None.
Making the noises: Nitish Kumar Reddy (Andhra), Shivam Dube (Mumbai).
Fallen off the pack: Hardik Pandya, Vijay Shankar.
Wicket-keepers
Another spot that is facing plenty of competition. The most encouraging bit is all these wicketkeepers happen to be solid batsmen, capable of winning games with the bat too. From those opening the batting to middle-order and lower-order, there is excellent flexibility in the ranks.
In the Test squad: Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel.
In the mix: Upendra Yadav (Railways).
Making the noises: Kumar Kushagra (Jharkhand), Abhishek Porel (Bengal), Harvik Desai (Saurashtra).
Fallen off the pack: KS Bharat (Andhra), Ishan Kishan (Jharkhand).
* Sanju Samson although has been named as a wicketkeeper in the Duleep Trophy, he isn’t Kerala first-choice and plays mostly as a batsman.
Spinners
There isn’t much of variety here. Compared to yesteryears, India unfortunately doesn’t have the richness in the ranks. Thanks to the advent of T20s, off-spinners and leg-spinners are struggling to come up the ranks in long format with most of them preferring to be left-arm orthodox.
In the Test squad: R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel.
In the mix: Sai Kishore (TN), Manav Suthar (Rajasthan), Saurabh Kumar (UP), Washington Sundar.
Making the noises: Hrithik Shokeen (Delhi), Nishant Sindhu (Haryana), S Ajith Ram (TN), Mayank Markande, Shams Mulani (Mumbai).
Fallen off the pack: Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav.
Fast bowlers
The most encouraging sign is that every season a new crop of fast bowlers emerges through the ranks, especially in the age-group levels. But there are also instances where some of them struggle to bowling in the long format, which has prompted the BCCI to hand fast bowlers contract to preserve them for the long run to some of them,
In the Test squad: Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Yash Dayal.
In the mix: Mukesh Kumar (Bengal), Arshdeep Singh (Punjab), Prasidh Krishna (Karnataka).
Making the noises: Avesh Khan (MP), Khaleel Ahmed (Rajasthan), Vidwath Kaverappa (Karnataka), Harshit Rana (Delhi), Tushar Deshpande (Mumbai), Umran Malik (J&K), Navdeep Saini (Delhi), Anshul Khamboj (Haryana), Vijaykumar Vyshak (Karnataka).
Fallen off the pack: Shardul Thakur (Mumbai), Shivam Mavi, Ishan Porel.
