Middle-Order Options For India: India’s dominant win over South Africa in the ODI series showcased how strong a young Indian side currently is. The team has repeatedly shown in absence of key players that they can pretty much hold their own. Away series wins in Sri Lanka, West Indies, and Zimbabwe, is a testament to this fact. Indian middle-order sans the experienced hands still look in great stead.
We Rank India’s Next Bunch of Middle-Order Options:
[The likes of Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, and Rishabh Pant have been omitted from this list. As these players have played significant amount of cricket for the team]
#7 Yash Dhull
He was India’s standout player in their U-19 World Cup winning campaign in 2022. Yash Dhull had to lie low owing to covid during the tournament. But he roared back to smash a century in the semis. Yash Dhull has the appetite for scoring big runs. He has already been earmarked for great things batting at number 3 and 4.
#6 Tilak Varma
He is one of the most promising youngsters to have emerged from IPL 2022. Tilak Varma showed fine prowess against both pace and spin. He wasn’t overawed by the opposition or the occasion. Despite him being unable to finish off games, he showed tremendous temperament in pressure situations. Varma is the lone left-hander in this pack of right-handed options. It is his biggest advantage.
#5 Rahul Tripathi
He is someone who typifies every cricketer’s dream. Rahul Tripathi season after season keeps piling up the runs. He makes batting look effortlessly easy on his day. Tripathi is one of those rare batsmen who get going almost instantly. He is a like-to-like replacement for Suryakumar Yadav except for the flamboyance. Tripathi’s attitude of playing the game is what makes him unique in this list.
#4 Deepak Hooda
His career has seen a major upturn in the last couple of years. Deepak Hooda made his national debut earlier this year. It was on back of his impressive IPL and domestic performance that he walked into the team.
Hooda went a step ahead in IPL 2022 making the number 3 spot his own while playing for Lucknow. His ability to bend his arm for a couple of overs has pushed his case. He is the only one from this list to have been selected for the T20 World Cup 2022.
#3 Rajat Patidar
He looked completely out of sorts in an IPL game last season. Rajat Patidar’s laborious innings cost him a contract in the mega auction. But an injury to an already selected player opened the doors for him in IPL 2022. Rajat Patidar has since then gone to play one sensational knock after the other.
His century in IPL eliminator 2022 will probably rank among the top-10 knocks played in the knockouts. Patidar is technically sound against all bowlers. This helps him grab the number 3 spot on this list.
#2 Shreyas Iyer
There has been a lot of noise surrounding Shreyas Iyer’s ability to play the short balls. He has been found wanting on few occasions dealing with the ball close to the body. But his consistency in white-ball formats is rivalled by very few. He is already one of India’s main frontline batsmen in ODIs with impeccable consistency. If he is able to negate his visible shortcoming, Iyer will be the batsman to watch out for in the next 4-5 years.
#1 Sanju Samson
He has been one of the most talented batsmen for the past 7-8 years. Sanju Samson’s international career has been stop and start ever since he made his international debut. He was one of the early Indian batsmen who sacrificed average for impact.
Samson is among the top two Indian batsmen who attack belligerently in the middle-overs. He has no visible weakness against pace and spin. Samson has shown versatility batting at different positions. Given a long run, he has the ability to win games on his own.
