5 Players from India who deserved a chance in the Nidahas Trophy

A T20 tri-series that is being played without some of the main players of the India team, resting Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah against opponents Sri Lanka and Bangladesh who are considered relatively weak, meant the inclusion of at least five new names in the dressing room.

While Washington Sundar, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Mohammad Siraj and Vijay Shankar were called up to test India’s bench strength and simultaneously reward domestic performances and groom the “pool of players” in consideration for the 2019 World Cup, then how did certain players not make it into the squad even if they fit the apparent criteria? If this was also a series where selectors wanted to try out players by persisting with them, why were some players deprived of the second chance?

Here are 5 Players that deserved a chance in the upcoming Nidahas Trophy:

Mayank Agarwal

The highest scorer in the Ranji Trophy, with 1160 runs including an unbeaten 304 and four centuries; the highest scorer in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, with 723 runs where he scored 80-plus scores in 7 of the 8 matches he played, did not find a place in the squad for India’s campaign in the NIdahas Trophy. Agarwal also broke Sachin Tendulkar’s 15-year-old record of the most runs in a List A tournament during his Vijay Hazare Trophy outing. To say he had a terrific domestic season will be an understatement but the fact that he is the only Indian cricketer to score more than 2000 runs in a domestic season, 2141 runs to be precise.

How and why such an amazing performance does not translate into an India cap is beyond understanding. Some did try to justify the selector’s neglect for Agarwal by saying India didn’t have room for another opener but that’s hardly convincing. If performances in Ranji Trophy weren’t considered at all, how come something as impactful and recent as a terrific run in Vijay Hazare Trophy was left ignored?

Shreyas Iyer

He was part of India’s middle order plans until now, wasn’t he? He may have only a performance or two to show the critics, but if this series was about persisting with certain cricketers or simply giving them an opportunity, why Iyer misses out is a bit difficult to figure out.

He will be seen leading India B in the Deodhar Trophy that is set to take place in Dharamsala from March 4th to 8th, which is going to be a defense for almost other players that will follow in this list. The selections for Deodhar Trophy will mean that everybody who does well will be next on the selector’s radar for India. However, that applies to cricketers in the domestic circuit who need one more opportunity, but since Iyer was already part of Team India, he should have been persisted with.

Siddharth Kaul

He earned a call-up for the series against Sri Lanka but he did not play a single game. He did not get a call-up for South Africa. He is now left out for the Nidahas trophy. So, what exactly was the point in introducing him to India’s plans when there was no intention to persist with him? Having made his Domestic cricket debut all those years ago in 2007, Kaul was one of the members of the Indian squad that lifted the U19 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur under the captaincy of Virat Kohli.

Since then, Kaul has plied his trade for several teams in the IPL. Most recently, he has been contracted with the Sunrisers Hyderabad and helped them to the title in the 2016 season where David Warner led his side to a win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He too will be seen in the Deodhar Trophy, playing for India B as well as the Rest of India squad for Irani Cup but again the Indian selectors and management’s hesitation in persisting with people they initially chose raises questions.

Krunal Pandya

He is considered one of the best T20 all-rounders in the world and not just in India but he is yet to get his India cap. Some people even rate him higher than his younger brother Hardik Pandya, yet, there is some hurdle between him and the India jersey. However, no matter his current form and recent performance, he will be a perpetual feature on any list of players that deserve a chance in the T20 format until he finally gets the chance.

He put up a decent performance for Baroda in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy. In fact, Baroda reached quarter-finals of the trophy but lost to Saurashtra. He scored 212 runs from the seven matches in the tournament with his highest score being 84 runs and also bagged six wickets. He has been picked in the India A. However, it would not be surprising if he came back into the ‘radar’ with a few good performances.

Karun Nair

He was snubbed in the Test squad despite that memorable triple ton but it was understandable because Virat Kohli and the management had their hands full with the perfect squad along with perfect back-ups. However, why Nair was not even considered in the limited overs set-up for the Indian middle order is a discourse not many people participated in. In the last 10 innings in domestic cricket across both T20 and 50-over-cricket, he scored two centuries. One came against Jharkhand in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the other came against Odisha in Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he was also captaining.

Not only did he lead Karnataka to a title triumph in Vijay Hazare, he also had two 50+ scores to his name. He will be leading Karnataka in the Deodhar Trophy and   Rest of India against Vidarbha in Irani Cup.