5 upcoming all-rounders in world cricket to look out for
All-rounders are a rare breed in cricket, and they become even rarer when asked to bear the travails of all three formats of the game and also participate in the T20 leagues all around the world, which has become a necessity these days. The constant need to travel around the world and adjust to different conditions, and then ply their trade with the bat as well as with the ball takes a lot out of such cricketers. The cricketing calendar is such that 8 of the top 9 Test playing nations play continuous cricket for most parts of the year and the rest periods in between are reduced to a span of a few weeks.
Hence, it must be noted that the cricketers who have been enlisted below have made it to the international level, despite the presence of (or due to the presence of) innumerable hindrances and pathbreakers, and have persevered from thereon. We enlist 5 upcoming all-rounders who have the potential to become future superstars for their respective teams.
Note: As the criteria to categorise a player as an upcoming cricketer, the filter of him having played 25 ODIs and 20 T20Is at the most has been applied. It means, that only those cricketers have been considered who have played fewer than and equal to 25 ODIs and 20 T20Is.
Mitchell Santner – New Zealand
The 3 Tests, 4 ODIs, and 10 T20Is that the 24-year-old Mitchell Santner has played only give a bleak glimpse about the talent that the left-arm spinner has. The relatively mellowed cricketer only garnered attention four months after his international debut, when during the ICC World T20 2016 opener between India and New Zealand, the Kiwi spinners wreaked havoc on a rank turner in Nagpur to bamboozle the Indian batsmen and pull out a shock defeat. Santer’s left-arm orthodox spin fetched him 4/11 from his 4 overs, and the way he deceived the Indian batsmen in the air made the world stand up and take notice of this young cricketer. In 10 T20Is that he has played, he has picked up at least a wicket in all of them except one. Overall, the New Zealand rookie has 15 wickets from 14 ODIs, 17 wickets from 10 T20Is and 6 wickets from 3 Tests.
However, it is the southpaw’s abilities with the bat that make him an even better cricketer and a vital asset for New Zealand cricket. A treble of 40s and a couple of 30s that feature in his 11 ODI innings, made all the more remarkable considering the fact that he came in to bat at No. 7 and No. 8 in the batting order, show that the left-handed batsman deserves to bat higher in the lineup and has a lot of potential with the bat as well. An ODI batting average of 49.00 and a strike rate of 105.00 don’t cause much harm to his reputation either. Having played only 3 Tests, Santner career is expected to only flourish when New Zealand tour India in September-October this year, as the spin-friendly subcontinental pitches would assist the all-rounder to a greater extent as compared to the surfaces at home.