India’s convincing victory over England in the Test series was partly due to the impressive performances of a bunch of young players. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill were the stars of the show, but several debutants also made significant contributions. India introduced five new players during the series: Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Akash Deep and Devdutt Padikkal.
Except for Patidar, all of them showed a lot of promise, especially when India was missing some of their senior players during the series. Indian captain Rohit Sharma, who played in all five matches, was really happy to see how the debutants handled themselves in international cricket.
“I was just enjoying their debuts so much because their parents were there. There was so much emotion,” Rohit Sharma said.
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One of the most awaited debuts was that of Mumbai batsman Sarfaraz Khan, who lived up to the expectations by scoring twin fifties in his first Test for India. Sarfaraz’s father and wife were there in Rajkot to witness him receive his India cap from legendary spinner Anil Kumble.
“I have played with Sarfaraz’s father in Kanga league when I was very young. His father was a left-handed batsman, an aggressive player, and very well known in Mumbai cricket circles. I wanted to acknowledge his effort and hard work that had paid off with his son playing for India. I just wanted to tell him that his son’s Test cap belongs as much to him as his son,” Rohit Sharma said.
Rohit Sharma was also impressed by how the youngsters responded to his and head coach Rahul Dravid’s advice.
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“I really enjoyed playing with the youngsters. All of them are very mischievous. I knew most of them well and what their strengths are and how they want to play the game. It was just me talking to them about how good they are and the good things they have done in the past. The way they responded to me and Rahul bhai was superb,” he said.
