Shameful as it may sound, the Indian Cricket Team failed to make it past the Super-12 stage in the 2021 T20 World Cup. The plethora of changes was made to the regular T20I side as Dhawan, Shreyas and Chahal missed out. However, their replacements proved ineffective, and Virat Kohli’s men faced a humiliating exit at the marquee event. The conclusion of India’s 2021 T20 World Cup campaign also marks the conclusion of Virat’s stint as T20I skipper. It also halts Ravi Shastri’s run as head coach.
Now Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid have taken over the respective roles. Rahul Dravid is coming off years heading National Cricket Academy and is widely renowned for backing young talents. Therefore, in this piece, we’ll be looking at three such potential talents Rahul Dravid-led Indian management might groom for T20 World Cup 2022.
1. Ruturaj Gaikwad
Chennai clinched their fourth IPL title this season and Gaikwad was the primary reason for that. Ruturaj Gaikwad featured in 16 matches, scoring a whopping 635 runs at an average of 45.35 runs per inning. While he looks tiny and isn’t muscular, Rutu is all class at stroke-making.
Gaikwad’s T20I selection for India’s home series against NZ signals at Dravid’s fondness of him. If he actually impresses in whatever limited opportunities he gets, Rutu may as well find himself in the reckoning for 2022 T20 World Cup.
2. Venkatesh Iyer
There’s zero doubts over Venkatesh Iyer being the find of IPL 2021. Left-handed Venkatesh turned up for KKR, showing great intent. In the second leg of this season’s Indian Premier League, Iyer opened ten times. He scored 370 runs at an average of 41, crossing fifty on four occasions. Also, Venkatesh’s shrewd medium-pace helped him bag three wickets from 4 bowling appearances.
Since the last 2 years, Hardik Pandya has been going through a lean patch. Injuries prevent him from bowling often. Therefore, India’s search for pace-bowling all-rounders now goes beyond Hardik: Recent axing serves confirmation. Venky can be a direct future swap for Pandya. However, first, Venky has to prove himself int’l fit.
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3. Avesh Khan
There’s a reason why just like Rutu and Venkatesh, Avesh also finds himself a place in this coveted list. Wearing DC jersey this season, Avesh Khan was destructive. Khan managed to take 24 wickets in IPL 2021 and ended the tournament with more scalps than everyone but Harshal Patel.
He regularly clocks over 140kmph and is accurate with his line and length. Bowls tough overs. Lands yorkers at will. Indian team management can’t ask for a more complete bowler, can they?