Three rising stars of Indian Cricket

BABA APARAJITH:

At 19, the possibilities are endless for Baba Aparajith, the young Tamil Nadu allrounder who seems to be developing a habit of scoring big runs. In his Duleep Trophy debut , he scored a double-century for South Zone. He then backed it up with a century in the next match for South zone. He was a key member of the highly rated bunch of youngsters who won the Under-19 World Cup in Australia in 2012, Aparajith has gone from strength to strength since that tournament. It didn’t take him much time to land in Tamil Nadu Ranji team, and he fared well with an average close to 40 in eight games.

Aparajith was rewarded for his consistency with a call-up to India A’s limited-overs squad to face West Indies A in Bangalore in September. In his first outing, in the third fifty-over match, he put in a solid performance as an opener, scoring 78 off 96 balls, with most of his runs coming in a 112-run stand with Yuvraj Singh. It was his first ever appearance for India A, and he admitted he felt the pressure. IPL has not been very fruitful for him and thus hasnt been able to gain enough popularity. For a boy of 19, Aparajith has displayed immense clarity of thought and maturity so far. If he carries on in similar fashion, things can only get better.