Who are the players to watch out for in the Ranjis this season? Thought I’d compile my list starting with the bowlers.
Fast/Medium bowlers
- Ishant Sharma, New Delhi
- Ranadeb Bose, Bengal
- Munaf Patel, Maharashtra
- VRV Singh, Punjab
- YoMahesh, TN
Apart from Bose and YoMahesh the other fast bowlers have represented India and Munaf Patel (not withstanding his Challenger Trophy performance) looks the most likely to break back in to the team first. But first he has to play a full season without breaking down. Pankaj Singh from Rajasthan didn’t make the cut into my list, but I’ll still be watching how he performs.
There are some notable exceptions in this list, such as Joginder Sharma and Praveen Kumar, but I thought they are better of falling into the allrounder category.
Spinners
- Piyush Chawla (Leg spin/Googly), UP
- Pragyan Ojha (Left arm orthodox), Hyderabad
- R Ashwin (Right arm off spin), TN
- KP Appanna (Left arm orthodox), Karnataka
- Abdulla (Left arm orthodox), Mumbai
Amit Mishra, the legspinner who has played for India missed the cut from my list. He hasn’t had the kind of impact some one like Piyush Chawla has had, but it would be interesting to see how he goes. Chawla has already broken into the India ODI squad and there is talks that he may eventually replace Kumble when he retires. Ojha has been very impressive for India A and looked the most likely left arm spinner to break into the Indian squad. But that was before Murali Karthik’s comeback. Appanna and Abdulla show a lot of promise and it would be interesting to see how they perform a full season. I would also like to see how Shahbaz Nadeem (another left arm spinner) who is not in my list performs this season.
Every so often during this season, I’ll try and post on how these people are going.
-Mahesh-