Uncapped India XI

It can be said with assurance that the Indian cricket team has the best bench strength at the moment. Not only is the senior national team at the top of the ranking charts across all formats, the ‘A’ team and the U-19 teams too have been unbeatable in recent years.

Some players like Manish Pandey would probably have made it into any other international team, but such is the abundance of talent at India’s disposal that even he is not a senior squad member. However, like many other high performing cricketers who have not cemented their place in the Indian XI, he has earned sporadic call-ups already.

The likes of Pandey, Naman Ojha, Abhinav Mukund and Barinder Sran have represented India at least once, and so miss out on this list. Following is a team of Indian players who are yet to receive their first India cap. This following team has six bowling options (three spinners and three seamers) and five batsmen.

Akhil Herwadkar

Akhil Herwadkar is an opening batsman, who can turn his arm around with good effect

This Mumbai opener has made fast strides in India’s domestic cricket. He has been a phenomenon in the last two years of the Ranji Trophy, with a classical approach to batting in a side full of attacking batsmen. His 879 runs in the 2015/16 Ranji season was the second highest run tally across all teams, only behind teammate Shreyas Iyer.

He has earned a call-up to the India ‘A’ side for the longer format matches on the back of a great season. Playing against the pink ball for the first time against Australia ‘A’ this week, Herwadkar saw off the whole of the morning session, before going out after an edge off his bat was plucked off with one hand at first slip.

Not only was Herwadkar’s batting a revelation last year, even his bowling ruffled enough feathers. He shocked Punjab with figures of 6/52 with his right arm off breaks.