5 Indian cricketers who can make it to the full-strength team based on their performances in Zimbabwe

#2 KL Rahul

KL Rahul was the best batsman amongst all those who made their debuts during the tour

Perhaps the best of all debutants to have featured at various stages of the recently-concluded tour has been the Karnataka run-machine, KL Rahul. Rahul announced his arrival in international limited-overs cricket through a record-breaking century on debut, thereby becoming the first Indian batsman to achieve such a feat. He eclipsed the previous record held by Robin Uthappa, who had scored 86 on his ODI debut back in 2006. The 24-year-old followed up his maiden knock of 100* with two gritty innings of 33 and 63* and played a crucial role in India’s 3-0 whitewash of Zimbabwe. In the T20I series as well, barring the first game wherein he got out for a golden duck, Rahul scored 47* and 22, thereby helping India achieve a solid opening stand.

The right-hander’s reincarnation came about in the Indian Premier League (IPL), wherein playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as a wicket-keeper batsman, Rahul emerged out of the shadows of his classical Test-match-like batting, and showed to us a completely different side of himself, playing free-flowing attacking strokes at a brisk strike-rate. Having finished with 397 runs from 14 games in the IPL this season, the opening batsman carried his form beautifully into the international arena and laid a solid claim for a spot in the already crowded top order of the Indian Cricket Team.