Talents have never failed to amaze whenever the opportunity is given. Can the shining talents of India make use of the Challenger Trophy?

Challenger Trophy: An opportunity to make comeback

NKP Salve Challenger Trophy has long been the bridge for making into the Indian team for both new and comeback players. Players like Piyush Chawla, Sreesanth, Suresh Raina and even Sehwag all came into spotlight through this trophy. Players who were dropped from the team had used this as a platform to show their worth again and made a comeback.

Irfan Pathan:

What better than this man comeback can make both Indian team and fans happy? He was shining player when he first came into the team but soon after everything boiled down. He had more than decent IPL earlier this year where he looked like getting back to his best rhythm. With India’s never ending search for an all-rounder and need for left arm seam bowler since Zaheer is injured, good performance in Challenger trophy will not go unnoticed and may even throws up a chance in England ODI series itself.

Manish Pandey:

Most of the shining talents who were part of U19 world cup winning team like S Tiwary, R Jadeja and V Kohli all played for India whereas Manish is yet get an opportunity. After stellar performances in last two domestic seasons and this year emerging tournament, good performance here will help him to stay in the contest for the place in Indian team.

Robin Uthappa:

Robin got some tough sticks in selection but he too hadn’t done something big to force his way back. After rather ordinary domestic season compared to his standards and an odd performance in this year IPL has really weakened his chances with other talented players performing consistently well. If he doesn’t score anything big in this series, the door to Indian team is almost shut forever for him.

Harbhajan Singh and Yusuf Pathan:

The situation for both players is almost similar atleast in ODI format. It is either make or break for them with their competitors winning the race comfortably on the back of good consistent performances. The situation for Harbhajan is as worse as Yusuf since bad performance in the trophy might see him out of the Indian colors for long time than he wants at this age. Yusuf though will still be in contention because a bad series from Jadeja will bring his name back into the radar but only if he doesn’t do something bad in the challenger trophy.

Abhimanyu Mithun and RP Singh:

One must feel for Mithun since he wasn’t given a long run like Vinay Kumar especially when he has good International record. He was unlucky too to miss the Emerging series and couple of other series with injuries. But the case of RP Singh is different. After getting a lucky call to England from Miami, he also got a good run of matches after awful display in the fourth test and his first chance. It can’t be denied that RP got great talent as he showed in the last two ODI in England series.

For both, the place in the team for last three matches in England series is around the corner. Whoever has good tournament will get the opportunity first.

Tags: Challenger Trophy, Cricket, Domestic Cricket, Harbhajan Singh, India, Irfan Pathan, Manish Pandey, NKP Salve Challenger Trophy, ODI Series, Robin Uthappa