Towards 2030: where is India's Under-25 talent?

[Junaids]

I have been genuinely shocked by the start of the Australia v India ODI series.

Obviously I live in Australia, so I haven't watched an IPL match for at least a decade. But I am genuinely shocked at the lack of emerging talent that India has on display.

Pandya is 27.
Saini is 28.
Rahul is 28.
Agarwal is almost 30.
Chahal is 30.

In their last Test in SENA the only players under 25 were

Prithvi Shaw (21)
Rishabh Pant (23)

Pakistan currently has players like Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Rohail Nazr, Abdullah Shafique and Haider Ali who are already approaching international class and who are likely to remain international cricketers until beyond 2030.

I understood when India persisted too long with the generation of Tendulkar, Dravid and Kumble until they were humiliated outside Asia. These were all-time great talents.

But the current crop of Indians aged 25-34 have been serial losers outside Asia, outclassed in two consecutive World Cup semi-finals and humiliated in every SENA Test series except for when Australia's best two batsmen were banned.

Surely there must be talented youngsters whom they could - and should - be using ODIs to groom for a future in red and white ball cricket?

Why are they recycling these older mediocrities instead? I'm genuinely shocked!

 

[Thunderbolt14]

India has a lot of good youngsters coming through. Watch out for Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw, Kartik Tyagi (he might be a little short for your liking), Ravi Bishnoi, and more.

 

[D/DAhmed]

India has a lot of good youngsters coming through. Watch out for Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw, Kartik Tyagi (he might be a little short for your liking), Ravi Bishnoi, and more.

Ravi Bishnoi is a worse reincarnate of Yuzvendra Chahal, whilst Kartik Tyagi is another product of India’s trundler factory. Watching him in the IPL there was no X-Factor at all in his bowling, just a 130-135kph cannon fodder.

Prithvi and Gill are high quality batsmen, but it seems as if India is falling into the seniors curse and will only give them regular chances once they reach 28-29 years old. Patience already seems to be running thin for Shaw due to his poor fitness and lack of marketability. Ideally you could see this long term top 3 LOI batting line up for India:

Paddikal
Jaiswal
Gill

As per usual, India’s problem is the middle order, for which they have no good talent, and of course the fast bowling where a plethora of trundlers are waiting.

 

[Thunderbolt14]

Ravi Bishnoi is a worse reincarnate of Yuzvendra Chahal, whilst Kartik Tyagi is another product of India’s trundler factory. Watching him in the IPL there was no X-Factor at all in his bowling, just a 130-135kph cannon fodder.

Prithvi and Gill are high quality batsmen, but it seems as if India is falling into the seniors curse and will only give them regular chances once they reach 28-29 years old. Patience already seems to be running thin for Shaw due to his poor fitness and lack of marketability. Ideally you could see this long term top 3 LOI batting line up for India:

Paddikal
Jaiswal
Gill

As per usual, India’s problem is the middle order, for which they have no good talent, and of course the fast bowling where a plethora of trundlers are waiting.

I don’t think the middle order is a problem between KL Rahul and Pandya, they need 1 more explosive batsman at that position though.

 

[Varun]

Did you miss the IPL?

You'll see all our no-name superheroes beet the Bombay Vadapavs and Hyderabad Biryanis to pulp over there.

 

[Bewal Express]

They need them now.

 

[BreadPakoda]

For ODIs, Indian selectors have been worse than their Pakistani counterparts. Players like Shaw and Gill haven’t been given opportunities while tried and tested failures like Jadhav and Karthik or losers like Vijay Shankar have been persisted with.

Even in tests they are going with Saha who’s on his last legs. But honestly winning tests in foreign conditions is extremely difficult right now. SENA teams fail in Asia and vice versa. We are witnessing a poor show all over.

 

[Hasan123]

They have the players. Just a question of when they do the transition.

 

[Titan24]

Transition naturally will have to happen but I am really surprised how Gill or any other batsman is not a permanent part of the team yet. International development takes time and every team tries to make sure transition becomes smoother by inducting a young player at the right time. So that when seniors retire a youngster is reasonably developed which I dont think has been the case here.

Also as I have said multiple times, there is no way to predict how a certain generation will turn out so inducting atleast a few youngsters at some point of time to test the waters and adjust accordingly is really important.

India has some good youngsters but; a good youngster is not always = to a world class international player and we have seen that time and time again that players drift away from their early promise. So its always good to induct and develop some youngsters before the actual transition.

 

[Maliq_Mudasir]

They are either not getting selected or not making into playing 11.

Manish Panday
Sanju Samson
Surya Kumar Yadav
Gill
Prithvi Shaw

These are the guys who would be
leading Indian batting line up post Kohli's retirement ( apart from Manish).

 

[Slim]

They have the players. Just a question of when they do the transition.

Which players other than Gill (who i remember bombed in NZ) and Shaw (who has fitness issues?)

 

[Titan24]

They are either not getting selected or not making into playing 11.

Manish Panday
Sanju Samson
Surya Kumar Yadav
Gill
Prithvi Shaw

These are the guys who would be
leading Indian batting line up post Kohli's retirement ( apart from Manish).

Pandey is 31 and Yadav is 30. They can be stop gap arrangement but at this age can’t really take team forward post Kohli and co.

 

[Mamoon]

India is one of the hardest teams to get into.

The top 3 is amongst the greatest in ODI history and the bowling attack has been performing very well for a long time.

The transition will happen after the 2023 World Cup.

 

[Maliq_Mudasir]

Pandey is 31 and Yadav is 30. They can be stop gap arrangement but at this age can’t really take team forward post Kohli and co.

It is shame that both haven't played at least 50 games for India.

They are much better than Kedar Jhadav, Ambati Rayudu and Vinay Shankar who were selected ahead oh them.

 

[ethan hunt]

India have lost their last 7 international games.
Now would be a good time to transition because their bowling back up looks particularly thin.

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

For ODIs, Indian selectors have been worse than their Pakistani counterparts. Players like Shaw and Gill haven’t been given opportunities while tried and tested failures like Jadhav and Karthik or losers like Vijay Shankar have been persisted with.

Even in tests they are going with Saha who’s on his last legs. But honestly winning tests in foreign conditions is extremely difficult right now. SENA teams fail in Asia and vice versa. We are witnessing a poor show all over.

No Pakistanis are worst in transition

 

[Thunderbolt14]

No Pakistanis are worst in transition

Disagree, Pakistanis are the best in transition. We’re always in a transition phase with captains changing every year, no stable openers for even 3-4 years in a row ever since Saeed Anwar retired, and different fast bowlers almost every 2-3 series. How we manage to not get beat to a pulp every time is a testament to our love for transition phases.

 

[Hasan123]

Which players other than Gill (who i remember bombed in NZ) and Shaw (who has fitness issues?)

Padikal looks good. And they have some good young seamers.

 

[MHN1293]

Padikal looks good. And they have some good young seamers.

Both paddikal and gills list a stats are remarkable and they also impreseed in ipl. Shaw looked good in the few international oppertunities he has got and surya kumar yadav is now on the selectors minds. Probably after the 2023 world cup when rohit and kohli will be near retirement is when transition will start to take place. While india have alreadystarted to phase out dhawan.

 

[Hasan123]

Both paddikal and gills list a stats are remarkable and they also impreseed in ipl. Shaw looked good in the few international oppertunities he has got and surya kumar yadav is now on the selectors minds. Probably after the 2023 world cup when rohit and kohli will be near retirement is when transition will start to take place. While india have alreadystarted to phase out dhawan.

I'm not sure how good Kohli,Rohit, and Dhwaan will be in 2023. I think India need to look to start the transition soon. KL Rahul and Iyer are good enough to be the senior players for 4/5 years.

 

[Thunderbolt14]

Del

 

[MMHS]

India is going through a sort of “conformity pressure”, in cricket terms, which happens to every successful team - a group of players grow together and when they are in down the hill over the age, it’s difficult to replace them. Also, this team is lead & managed by two long term incumbents, who has their personal preferences.

The current Indian team has 7-8 players over the age and they are in the wrong side of 30, but can’t be dropped before 2033 WC - there is no reason to drop them to be honest - it’ll be an upset to snatch the WC in India from the hands of Sharma, Dhawan, Kohli, Jadeja, Shami, Chahal, Bumrah, Pandeya, BK.......

I think, players are there to replace, but they can’t drop seniors unless these players self retire. After 2023 WC, I believe we will see a mass clear out - some voluntarily retiring, some being dropped. Batting was never any issue, won’t be either in future, spin as well; but they might struggle to replace the pace bowlers.

1. Shaw
2. Jaiswal/Paddikal
3. Gill
4. KL
5. Mannish Pandeya/new face
6. Pant/Samson
7. +Sundar/Pandeya ..
8.
9.
10. Kuldeep
11. Bumrah

That’s a gun top 7, even if I consider Kohli won’t play 2027 WC, but those two fast bowlers for No. 8 & 9 are the real crisis - entire India should focus for these two spots - a BK of 2015-6 at No. 8 and a Shami of 2017-19 would make them again among top contenders.