Five Indians with plenty to prove in Nidahas Trophy

NEW DELHI: The Nidahas Trophy, a Twenty20 international tri-series in Sri Lanka featuring the hosts, India and Bangladesh, gets underway on Tuesday. With several first-choice Indian players rested for the tour - skipper Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav - this series will offer several fringe players a chance to make a name for themselves.
Rishabh Pant

The 20-year-old has played in two T20Is for India last year, and is one of two wicketkeepers in the squad (the other being the veteran Dinesh Karthik). Pant’s outstanding form in domestic cricket propelled him into India’s T20I a little over a year ago, but since those two games he has not had the same effect. With Dhoni rested, the Nidahas Trophy is a good chance for the team to see if Pant has what it takes to succeed in T20Is. His talent is undeniable; a low-key series such as this could work out well for Pant given that Dhoni’s successor as wicketkeeper has not been found. Sanjay Manjrekar, writing in these pages today, argued that Pant be played in all matches in Sri Lanka.
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Deepak Hooda

This is Hooda’s second call-up to India’s T20I squad, and the 22-year-old allrounder from Baroda is hoping to see playing time in Sri Lanka. Uncapped, Hooda offers the team an exciting big-hitting option in the absence of Pandya, but whether his spin bowling finds favour could be the deciding factor in his chances. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Hooda scored 226 runs at a strike-rate of 150.66, and more recently collected 352 runs in seven innings of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
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Washington Sundar

With one ODI and T20I to his credit in December, the spin-bowling allrounder looks set to get a few more chances in Sri Lanka. His form for Tamil Nadu in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy was good (12 wickets and an economy of 6.88 and 190 runs at a strike-rate of 115.15) and the fact that he can float up the order and bowling upfront and at the death will be an asset for India. Sundar’s IPL pedigree, in a brief span of time, should also see him at the top of the queue when it comes to picking the XI.
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Mohammed Siraj

Hyderabad pace bowler Siraj has played two T20Is for India, in which he has been very expensive with an economy rate of 12.25. But he has been given another chance to impress, and with Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah not in the picture, he is third in line behind fellow pace bowlers Jaydev Unadkat and Shardul Thakur. Siraj, 23, has taken 38 wickets in 23 career T20 games.
Vijay Shankar

The 27-year-old from Tamil Nadu emerged as a profitable uncapped allrounder during the 2018 IPL player auction, sold for Rs 3.2 crore to Delhi Daredevils. He may find it hard to break into India’s starting XI given the presence of several allrounders, but there is plenty of potential. Shankar has 589 runs and 13 wickets in 41 career T20 appearances.