Former Indian middle-order batsman Suresh Raina has picked three Indian young cricketers who have managed to impress him. Raina selected three players,each from different IPL franchises. However, one major name, the captain of Delhi Capitals,Rishabh Pant was not included in Raina’s list.
Chinna Thala selected RCB opener Devdutt Padikkal and CSK opener Ruturaj Gaikwad in his list. The third person in Raina’s list was left-arm spin all-rounder, Axar Patel. These are the three players who have impressed Chennai Super Kings batsman a lot.
Padikkal and Ruturaj were the finds of the season in IPL 2020. Both the batsman got to make debut for RCB and CSK respectively and performed exceptionally well. Devdutt and Gaikwad were picked by their respective IPL franchises because of their remarkable performance in the domestic cricket scene.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Capitals all-rounder Axar Patel made an extraordinary Test debut against England at home. Axar was ranked just behind Ashwin in terms of wickets picked in the series. Suresh Raina pinpointed that Axar was the perfect replacement for Star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja in the squad. Meanwhile, Devdutt and Gaikwad both have now received their maiden international call-up and both are part of the Sri Lanka tour. However, it will be interesting to see whether they will be given a debut in the series or not. Also, Axar Patel is currently part of India’s tour of England Test series squad.
“I think Devdutt Padikkal from Karnataka. After him, Ruturaj Gaikwad from Maharashtra. He is a gun player. Axar Patel has worked really hard, and he performed brilliantly well in the absence of Ravindra Jadeja,” Suresh Raina said in an interview with News24 Sports.
See, he has entered the senior category. He’s grown. : Raina on Pant
Suresh Raina also revealed the real behind exclusion of Rishabh Pant from his list. The reason Raina gave behind this was he doesn’t consider Pant in the junior category anymore. Raina believes Rishabh Pant has now become a regular member of India in all three formats of the game.
“See, he has entered the senior category. He’s grown. He is also hitting fours now and not only sixes,” the CSK player explained.
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