3 Indian players who have improved significantly since the 2019 World Cup
The 2019 World Cup was a quite enthralling competition. Not only did it produce arguably the greatest sporting final of all time, but it also featured a number of notable performances in the days leading up to the summit clash epic.
Team India enjoyed a decent run at the 2019 World Cup, although they did eventually fall at the semi-final hurdle to New Zealand. Rohit Sharma finished as the tournament's leading run-getter with 648 runs in nine innings, while Jasprit Bumrah was the team's highest wicket-taker with 18 scalps.
Both players have gone from strength to strength. Rohit has become a reliable Test opener and now leads the side, while Bumrah has continued to add new tricks to his arsenal and remains as unplayable as before.
There are a few players who have improved even more than the aforementioned duo, who were already among the very best players before the start of the previous World Cup. Some names who weren't as big as they are now have managed to reinvent themselves and will play key roles for the Men in Blue during the 2023 edition of the showpiece event.
Here are three Indian players who have improved significantly since the 2019 World Cup.
#3 Ravindra Jadeja, the bowler
With allegations of being a "bits and pieces" cricketer being thrown around, Ravindra Jadeja wasn't even a sureshot member of India's playing XI during the 2019 World Cup.
After the debacle India suffered at the hands of England while fielding two wrist-spinners, though, Jadeja entered the XI and ended up playing two matches. He picked up two wickets in those games and essayed a terrific knock against the Blackcaps in the semi-final.
There's a reason why Jadeja wasn't a lock in the XI. The left-arm spinner was a largely unreliable option with the ball, with his ODI bowling average reading more than 50 in four of the five calendar years between 2016 and 2020.
Now, though, Jadeja is a transformed bowler. He has brought his average below 40 in the last two calendar years and has also lowered his economy rate to well under 5.00.
Jadeja's bowling returns have meant that he is still ahead of Axar Patel in the pecking order even though the latter has been far more impressive with the bat. He will be one of India's most important players in the 2023 World Cup.
#2 Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya was 25 years old during the 2019 World Cup. He picked up 10 wickets at an economy rate of 5.65 and managed 226 runs at an average of 32.28 for the Men in Blue.
Now, Pandya is touching 30 and is arguably India's most important ODI player. The vice-captain of the national side, he has become an established leader in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and taken up more responsibility in both departments.
Crucially, Pandya has added bite and variations to his bowling arsenal and isn't a stop-gap option anymore. He is a genuine fast bowler who has graduated from middle-overs hit-the-deck workhorse to someone who can bowl at all stages of the innings and be very reliable as well.
Pandya still has some issues to iron out with the bat, against spin and hard lengths in particular. But he has become a truly world-class ODI all-rounder, and India will hope that he's at his match-winning best during the upcoming World Cup.
#1 Kuldeep Yadav
Kuldeep Yadav's career hit a terrible slump in the aftermath of the carnage the English batters inflicted upon him at the 2019 World Cup. Over the last year and a half, though, the spinner has found a second wind to become one of the best in the world.
Kuldeep, who picked up six wickets in seven matches at the last World Cup, is India's lead spinner heading into this one, having displaced Yuzvendra Chahal with ease. The left-arm wrist-spinner has recorded 31 wickets in 16 matches this year at an economy rate of 4.54, his best numbers ever.
Kuldeep is one of the early frontrunners to finish the 2023 World Cup as the leading wicket-taker. His growth has been nothing short of amazing over the last couple of years.