There is no dearth of talented and hard working players in the Indian domestic circuit. It is a place where players prove themselves to get a shot at the highest level. The very first time a player gets to represent his state in first-class cricket, he know that a string of good performances can mean a straight dive into the Indian Test squad.
However, good performance alone doesn’t guarantee a place in the Indian Test squad. Apart from a good record and hard work, a player needs to have an ‘X-factor’ that can differentiate him from the rest of the lot.
Moreover, there should be a necessity for a particular type of player in the squad. Whenever a first team player gets injured or suspended, it is always an opportunity for the upcoming players to make their mark.
Let us look at five Indian domestic players who deserve a shot at Test cricket.
Shahbaz Nadeem
Shahbaz Nadeem is probably the best spinner in the domestic circuit as of now. The left-arm spinner, who plays for Jharkhand, has been the highest wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy consecutively for the past couple of seasons.
He ended the 2015/16 season with 51 wickets to his name in 9 matches at an average of 19.62. He followed it up with another superb outing in 2016/17 season with 56 scalps in 10 matches at an average of 25.60.
He has a total tally of 307 wickets in 83 first-class matches and 107 of those have come in the past couple of seasons. His exploits still haven't proved to be enough to get him a place in the Indian Test squad.
The only limitation of the 27-year-old is that he is a pure bowler. With modern cricket now preferring spin bowling all-rounders like Ashwin and Jadeja, Nadeem finds himself out of favour most of the times. Even if the duo get injured, they have a like-for-like back ups in Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav and Kuldeep Yadav.
So, Nadeem seems to be far behind in the queue. Still India should think about providing him an opportunity to prove himself.
Manoj Tiwary
Manoj Tiwary is one of the most unfortunate Indian batsmen to not have his fair share of opportunities despite consistent performances in the domestic circuit. Statistics of 7,020 first-class runs in 95 Matches at an average of 52 suggest so.
He has been very unlucky whenever he has been called up to play for India. He broke records when he scored 796 runs in the 2007/08 Ranji season at an average of 99.50. That resulted in an India call up for the tour of Bangladesh. However, on the eve of the match in Mirpur, he injured his shoulder severely in a practice session and was ruled out of the series. He was provided another opportunity in 2008 in Australia. However, a jet-lagged Tiwary couldn't last long against the soaring pace of Brett Lee at Brisbane.
He had to wait for another three years to get a call up into the National side. He even scored an ODI century against the West Indies in 2011. However, he was benched after that series for unknown reasons.
After almost 10 years of his international debut, he has played just 12 ODIs and 3 T20Is for India. However, he hasn't even been given a chance to prove his mettle in Test Cricket.
There have been a lot of changes made to the Indian batting unit over the past couple of years. Still the selectors didn't give Tiwary a chance. The fact that he was the top scorer for Bengal in 2016/17 Ranji Season with 643 runs to his name at an average of almost 50, proves that he still has plenty of cricket left in him.
Shreyas Iyer
Shreyas Iyer has been touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket for the past couple of years. He made his first-class debut in the 2014/15 Ranji season scoring 809 runs at an average of 50.56, batting mostly in the middle order for Mumbai.
That saw him being picked up in the 2015 IPL auction by the Delhi Daredevils for a mammoth sum of Rs 2.6 crore. He proved his worth emerging as the top-scorer for them with 439 runs in 14 matches in IPL 2015.
He was promoted to the top the order in the following Ranji season and he treated everyone with 1,321 runs at an average of 73.88, thus helping Mumbai to their 41st Ranji title.
He had a slump of form in the 2016 IPL season. However, he once again recovered his career with a successful Ranji 2016/17 stint scoring 725 runs in 10 matches at 42.88. He even had a good IPL this year (338 runs in 12 matches) and has now even scored a century recently for India A side against South Africa A. Given an opportunity in the Test squad, Iyer may go on to become one of the big names in Test Cricket.
Dhawal Kulkarni
Kulkarni is one of the best pacers in the domestic circuit. Statistics of 229 wickets in 73 first-class matches at an average of 27.04, certainly looks good for a medium pacer.
He plays a vital role with the new ball for his Ranji side, Mumbai. He has also played the same role in the IPL for the Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals and now the Gujarat Lions.
He was called up for the away Test series against New Zealand in 2009 following his good domestic outing. However, he didn't get an opportunity to play. But he has played 12 ODIs and 2 T20Is for India picking up 19 and 3 wickets respectively. Being just 28 years old, the Mumbai pacer still has a long way to go and probably deserves an opportunity to represent India in Tests.
Sandeep Sharma
He is not a bowler who bowls at express pace. However, he can trump even the best batsmen in the world with his natural ability to swing the new ball viciously.
Even though Sharma has just played 35 first-class matches till date, he has 138 wickets to his name which gives him an average of 24.73. The Punjabi lad has also been a vital cog for the Kings XI Punjab bowling unit since 2013. He bowls both at the start and at the death of the innings for them and is their main strike bowler.
He turns out to be absolutely unplayable in swinging conditions and also gives the batsmen a tough time in conditions against it. He has also represented India in two T20Is. However, he hasn't been successful. But, given an opening the Test squad, he might prove his mettle.
(Prasenjit Dey is a freelance cricket writer. He can be reached at @Prosen02. The opinions expressed are the author’s own and The Quintneither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)
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