New Delhi, March 21 Jatin Paranjape, the former India cricketer and national selector, believes the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) can help the national team identify their next new-ball fast-bowling spearhead, especially with Jasprit Bumrah recovering from a back injury.
With the Men’s T20 World Cup slated to be played in India and Sri Lanka next year, expect the performances of fast-bowlers like Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana among others to be closely watched by the national team coaches and Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee.
"All these guys like Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson, who are playing in the T20 team are certainties. Actually, I think all the slots are sort of taken up because our T20 side is extremely strong. Probably there is a slot for an opening bowler given Bumrah's recent injury issues.
"So, who is going to be the spearhead of the bowling attack with the new ball is one of the interesting positions to be filled. Mayank Yadav is currently unfit, but he's also the one they will keep an eye on," said Paranjape to IANS on Friday.
With Abhishek and Sanju ahead in the race of openers, as well as Tilak Varma showing himself as a reliable top three batter, how the likes of Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, and KL Rahul perform with the bat for their respective teams will be keenly watched.
"IPL performances are given importance for sure, especially if there is some T-20 multilateral tournament or an ICC tournament happening close by. While Gill will open the batting, Iyer would bat at number 3.
"I feel that it could be a surprise move where Pant actually opens the batting for the Lucknow Super Giants. But if not, he will bat at about either three or four. I feel KL Rahul will open the batting," added Paranjape, a member of BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee and co-founder of KheloMore.
He signed off by predicting that Punjab Kings’ Shashank Singh and Lucknow Super Giants’ Abdul Samad will be the uncapped Indian players who can rise more into prominence in IPL 2025. "Shashank Singh is somebody I have a lot of time for, while I think Abdul Samad also has a lot of talent. So Shashank Singh and Abdul Samad are two names which come to mind from an uncapped players perspective."
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor