4 fringe Indian players who should be given a chance to prove their case for next year's World T20

There have been a few young players in the Indian domestic circuit who have been consistently showcasing their potential for their state sides , but are somehow getting overlooked by the selectors. However, going ahead with two T20 World Cups lined up in two consecutive years, India need to test them out to see what they have to offer at the highest level of the sport.

And if the youngsters have to be tested, this is the ideal time to do it so that they get enough no. of games to settle in and prove their worth, rather than testing them close to a big tournament and discarding them after a couple of failures as India have done with some players in the recent past.

They gave Shubman Gill two games earlier this year in New Zealand where he had to counter extremely tough batting conditions and as he registered two low scores, he disappeared from the selection radar as the World Cup was approaching and India didn’t have enough time to invest in him. So it’s important to ensure that the youngsters are brought in at a time where they can be allowed to find their feet.

Let’s talk about the 4 young players who, if they are groomed well, can play a substantial role for India in the upcoming T20 World Cup –

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#1 Ishan Kishan

Ishan Kishan played some eye-catching innings for Jharkhand in the last domestic season

India, for quite some time, have been struggling to find a player who can score at a fair clip by playing percentage cricket in the middle overs and Ishan might just fit that bill perfectly. He is an attacking batsman and likes to go after the bowlers, especially the spinners, but he does that without playing the high risk shots.

The 21-year old hits sixes against the spinners straight down the ground by going right to the pitch of the ball. He doesn’t heave across the line from the crease and since he has this ability to reach the pitch of the ball by jumping out of his crease, he can take the spinners on even on turning surfaces because he doesn’t allow the ball to turn.

While Ishan’s strength at the moment is his power hitting against spin bowling, he has got a good range of shots against the fast bowlers as well. He doesn’t get hurried by the pace and can play horizontal bat shots square of the wicket on both sides.

In the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy played just before the IPL, Ishan scored two back to back hundreds and ended up with a total of 333 runs in 8 games with an average of more than 55 and a strike rate of 151.36. The southpaw is definitely worth being given a go.

#2 Nitish Rana

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2018

Rana is another batsman who has been scoring in all formats at the domestic level including the Ranji Trophy and the IPL. He was the second highest run scorer for the Kolkata Knight riders in the IPL 2019 with a tally of 344 runs, striking them at the rate of 146.38.

Rana, at times, has been found a bit susceptible against the short balls when they are directed towards his body, but that’s the case with a lot of left handers. Rana manages to cover that one weakness that he has with many of his strengths.

The most exciting thing about Rana is his approach in the middle overs. He has got different gears in his batting. He is not one of those players who would either block or slog and do nothing in between. If the need arises, he can bat in the 6th gear and get himself completely in the boundary hitting mode, but if the situation demands him to milk the bowling, he can do that as well.

The tempo and dynamism of his batting is what makes Rana so good in white ball cricket. The 25-year old, who is currently also the captain of the T20 and one day sides of Delhi, can be a great investment for India keeping the upcoming T20 World Cup in mind.

#3 Rahul Chahar

Rahul Chahar was highly impressive for the Mumbai Indians in the last IPL

India have shown the willingness to back the wrist spinners in the last couple of years and they had to do that because the importance of wrist spin has increased significantly in modern day white ball cricket.

But India’s wrist spinners, especially Kuldeep Yadav, have been found out whenever the pitches are slow and that’s because Kuldeep’s natural speed is pretty slow already and on top of that, if the pitch is slow as well, it makes it so much easier for the batsmen to pick his variations off the pitch by rocking onto the back-foot.

Rahul Chahar is a bit different in that regard. He is tall and generates a fair bit of pace through the air for a spinner. It’s not easy to play him off the back-foot unless he drops it really short. And since he is pretty tall and gets nice drift into the right handers before spinning it away, his trajectory is another challenge for the batsmen.

In the IPL 2019, nobody found Chahar easy to put away as he played a crucial role in the title triumph of Mumbai Indians. The leggie ended up with an economy rate of below 7 in the 13 games he played. He might be India’s trump card on the flat and hard Australian surfaces in the T20 World Cup next year.

#4 Navdeep Saini

England Lions v India A - Day Two

Saini was India’s fastest bowler in the last IPL. Some of the deliveries he bowled clocked over 150 KPH which is not a norm for an Indian fast bowler. It was the first IPL season where he played regularly and he had to bowl the toughest of the overs for RCB, but the young man hardly ever let his captain down. The lanky speedster fetched 13 wickets in 13 games and troubled some seriously good batsmen with his pace.

Saini’s stand-out quality is his control of lengths. The pace he bowls at, it’s a huge temptation to try and bang everything short. A lot of young bowlers do that, but Saini almost always bowls a nice, hard length and drops one or two deliveries short only to surprise the batsman, which is why it is tough to line him up and premeditate against him.

Since he is over 6 ft. and has a high arm action, he naturally extracts more bounce off the good length area than the bowlers with standard heights do and that's what makes him that much more lethal. He is a real bright prospect for India moving forward.