Five players Who are Knocking at the Selector's Doors for Team India

With Karnataka clinching the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Tuesday, another gruelling domestic season of cricket in India drew curtains.

The season was full of valuable performances from Team India discards intending to make a comeback into the national side.

Also, it saw some of the youngsters coming into the limelight with their respective performances. The season also saw few seasoned names finally making it big and difficult for the selectors to overlook them for the contention of a berth in the national side.

Here we look at some names.

1. Mayank Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal has been in around the Indian domestic circuit for some years by now. He is almost a regular in the IPL and has been part of many franchises over the years.

However, the Karnataka opener forced open the doors of the selectors with his breakthrough domestic season this year. Mayank Agarwal became the first batsman to compile above 2000 runs in a single season.

Agarwal is scheduled to join the Kings XI Punjab camp this season, to continue his rich form and make his case in the Indian middle-order.

In Ranji Trophy, Mayank smashed 1160 runs at an average of 105, with five centuries and career best of 304*.

He followed it up with three fifties in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and record-breaking, 700+ runs in Vijay Hazare Trophy, with three centuries in the tournament, breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record in World Cup of 2003.

Mayank Agarwal this season across formats 13,8,31,0,0,304*,176,23,90,133*,173,134,78,15,3,55,2,10,13,86,6,9,0,77,109,84,28,102,89,140 – Could go in vain since there is no spot available in the longer format. Can make it in T20s if seniors decide to rest. #form

— Gaurav Sundararaman (@gaurav_sundar) February 21, 2018

2. Basil Thampi

The Kerela pacer is rising through the ranks to become a dependable pacer with the new ball for India. Thampi had a consistent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, following up a successful Ranji season.

Thampi was also amongst the wickets in the ‘A’ games against New Zealand in October. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Thampi went on to clinch six wickets at a decent economy to prove his credentials in the shortest format of the game.

The Kerala paceman was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad this season. Earlier, in 2017 season of IPL, Thampi came out to be one of the finds for the Gujarat Lions. He was also rewarded with a place in the Indian squad in the T20Is against Sri Lanka last year.

3. Karun Nair

The world was at Karun Nair’s feet since announced himself on the International stage with his towering knock of 303* against England in Chennai.

However, after a string of failures against Australia and a subsequent season of IPL, it quickly escalated from the Karnataka captain.

However, the now KXIP player seems to get his mojo back, as he smashed a couple of standout tons this season. His 52-ball 111 and a gritty 148* against Vidharbha in the semi-finals were the two notable performances from Nair amongst the other valuable contributions.

Nair now makes a solid case for himself for coming back into the reckoning for the Indian side in the middle-order.

4. Prithvi Shaw

Many cricketing pundits in the country feel the successful Indian U19 captain is game ready at International stage. The theory is backed by Shaw’s impressive performances in all premier domestic competitions.

Shaw followed up his sensational Ranji season with important contributions in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy. Shaw already is a star in the making.

The sole argument against his selection into the senior team is his age. However, the rebuttal to this statement may be provided by taking the case of Sachin Tendulkar who got introduced at a tender of 16.

5. Rajneesh Gurbani

Rajneesh Gurbani, during the finals this season of Ranji Trophy, only became the second bowler to clinch a hattrick to achieve the feat on the said occasion. The Vidarbha pacer came into the reckoning with his swing and pace.

Gurbani was the second highest wicket-taker in the season with 39 wickets. The engineer-turned cricketer transformed his form even in white ball cricket, as he clinched seven wickets in the few games he played in the tournament.

With his recent performances, Gurbani made it difficult for the selectors to overlook him for reckoning at least in the Test squad for India