Ahmedabad : It wouldn’t be wrong to say that India’s first team is blessed with the most talented young players who do not fear the big stage and are a 100% ready to dish out match-winning performances in the very beginning of their International careers. Gone are the times when a debutant was overawed by the occasion and took time to get used to his surroundings. With the emergence of the IPL and the ‘A’ tours, a player can rub shoulders with national and international greats of the game along with having an idea of the variety of playing conditions around the globe.

Image courtesy : BCCI / Twitter

We will be looking at a handful of the young players who made their mark in this series : –

  1. Axar Patel – 27 wickets in three test matches including 4 five-wicket hauls. He will definitely be hard to leave out once Jadeja comes back into the XI. Although they fill a similar purpose to the team and despite the fact that Jadeja’s batting is superior. The man-of-the-series award may have gone to Ravichandran Ashwin, but if you ask the English batsmen they would agree Axar was the major difference between the two sides. India missed the left-arm bowler’s services in the first test match due to an injury that he picked up. It was also the match where England piled up 500-plus runs in the first innings. So ever since the first test match, their batting has not looked the same courtesy to consistent and persistent line and length bowling by Axar. In the final test match, he was handed the ball before India’s regular new ball bowler, Ashwin and that tells you how penetrative he was throughout the series
  2. Rishabh Pant – Two of his cricketing aspects that have drastically improved can be talked about here – his wicketkeeping and batting. Ever since the second test match in Chennai where the ball was jumping and spinning to all corners, his keeping has been top notch. Rather than quick and bouncy tracks where the ball comes at a good waist height to the keeper, tracks where the ball comes on much slowly along with inconsistent bounce, pose a greater challenge for any wicketkeeper. So keeping at home, after playing most of his cricket away has forced him to level up on that aspect. Now when a keeper does well behind the stumps, his confidence immediately reflects onto his batting or even vice-versa and Rishabh Pant epitomizes the fact. He did get a 91 in the first test along with a fifty in the next but the hundred in final test was a special ton because his innings came at a time when India could have lost their way and conceded the lead had those runs not come at that stage.
  3. Washington Sundar – All of Sundar’s memorable knocks have come at a time when India have lost their top order wickets and his safe, shot-scoring ability has lifted the team’s position near to a victory. He was unlucky to miss out on a hundred in the final test match but the value of those runs would not be less than one. His outstretched cover drives that extend to fly for a six are a sight to watch and it would not be a surprise if he goes on to become an established test opener for India in the next 4-5 years.
  4. Mohammed Siraj – He had less of a role to play in the series with Bumrah filling the second seamer’s role. But whenever you watch him bowl, it feels like you’re watching a test veteran go about his work and not someone with the experience of under 10 test matches. The kind of spell he bowled in the first innings of the fourth test match that sent Root and Bairstow back with incoming deliveries has become his USP. He bowled in the fashion that he did to Cam Green in the Melbourne test last year with a typical set up that every bowler dreams of bowling at the international arena. He bowled a few out-swingers to Root that bounced him out before storming the nip-backer to wrap him on the pads.

All in all the team is shaping up well not only for the WTC final but also for the next decade of international cricket.