India’s chief selector, MSK Prasad reckons that his panel has done a good job to build a core in the Indian team that will go a long way to serve Indian cricket. He named a set of players who form the current bench strength of the national team. His tenure will be coming to an end with one of the selectors Gagan Khoda while those of the other three — Jatin Paranjpe, Sarandeep Singh and Devang Gandhi still have a year left in their respective tenures but they are unlikely to be retained.

While picking the highlighted batsmen and bowlers in his tenure, Prsaid chose to name quite a few names. Talking about the batting bench strength, the 44-year-old picked four — two of whom are on the comeback trail while the rest were the leading scorers in the domestic circuit last season. These four are KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Abhimanyu Easwaran, and Priyanka Panchal.

ALSO READ: Lynn and Maxwell Decides To Donate Bush-fire Victim With Every Six They Hit

Talking to the Hindustan Times about the same, Prasad said, “If you take the case of openers, now with Rohit (Sharma) stepping up, you have Rohit, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, and Priyank Panchal. On any given day, any of these guys can open for India. That’s how we have groomed them from a systematic process through India A tours.”

Despite the fact that Rahul has lost his place as the Test opener,  he has come quite far in the ODIs and the T20Is. On the other hand, Shaw has made a good comeback into cricket after remaining sidelined by injury and serving a doping-related suspension. He hit a double century in the Ranji Trophy recently after playing well in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Easwaran and Panchal have been in great touch in the Ranji.

In bowling, Prasad named six bowlers who are in the reserves even as the frontline ones — including Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, and Ishant Sharma are doing a great job, especially in the long format.

ALSO READ: BCCI And IPL Franchises Not Agreeing On The Scheduling?

Prasad said, “Talking of fast bowling back-ups, we have Navdeep Saini, Avesh Khan, Basil Thampi, Sandeep Warrier, Ishan Porel and Mohammed Siraj. So, there is a bench for every slot. I am sure this will pave the way and strengthen the Indian team across all formats.”