Former head coach Ravi Shastri believes young players, who have proved themselves in the ongoing Indian Premier League, could be in the reckoning for a spot in the ODI World Cup to be played later this year.
Shastri reckons that Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rinku Singh are capable of making the transition to international cricket in the near future.
'One is Jaiswal, simply because of the way he has played this season. And for me, it is a marked improvement from what I saw from him last year, which is a very, very, positive sign. It shows that there is a young guy prepared to work on his game, sort out things, get a more all-round game into play and he has done that this season.
'Just the power with which he is re-taking shots. Just the pockets he is hitting around the ground as opposed to last year are very good,' Shastri said on The ICC Review.
'The other bloke is Rinku Singh, which is a great story. The more I see of him, that guy has got a fabulous temperament. He is tough as nails. Both of these guys have come through very hard backgrounds. They have worked very hard initially in their lives and nothing has come easy for them.
'So you can see that hunger, that passion, that drive that is so needed to make it to the top.'
Jaiswal has been a standout at IPL 2023, scoring 575 runs so far for the Rajasthan Royals with a century and four fifties.
Fellow southpaw Rinku Singh (407 runs in 13 matches, with three fifties and an average above 50) has impressed with his abilities as a finisher, scripting victories from hopeless situations.
Shastri also threw in other batters who could be in the national selectors' sights for an India cap.
'As far as batting goes, there's Tilak Varma (274 runs in nine matches at an average of 45.66 with a fifty), there's Jitesh Sharma (265 runs at an average of 22.08 and a strike rate of over 155), who is a wicket-keeper-batter who's pretty dangerous and has stood out,' Shastri noted.
'There's Sai Sudarshan (223 runs in six matches at an average of 44.60 with two fifties), a left-hander. I would put Tilak Varma, I would put Jaiswal, I would put Rinku Singh. (They) are the candidates who can really push through along with Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has been around for a while.'
'These are the guys who can push for selection, depending on their form closer to the World Cup. If there are injuries to any key players, then these guys can come straight away into the mix.'
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