6 players who make India's bench incredibly strong
The Indian cricket team under Virat Kohli looks like a formidable unit. The team has been in great form over the last three years, and they have put in some memorable performances.
India's real test were the overseas tours to South Africa, England and Australia in 2018. They looked competent in South Africa and England, even though the scoreline says otherwise. And then they overcame their shortcomings on the tour of Australia to register a memorable series win, becoming the first Asian team to win in Australia in 71 years.
One of India's secrets in these performances is the bench strength and the constant supply line that the team has. India has a very robust first-class structure, and the U-19 and India-A teams are looked after by none other than the legend Rahul Dravid himself.
Whether it was a home series or an away series, in recent times India have had players who could replace anyone at any given point of time. The replacements who came in produced terrific performances, which added to more selection headaches.
Here, let's look into India's bench strength and the quality it possesses, which makes India a formidable force in world cricket.
5. KL Rahul
Not so long ago, KL Rahul was considered India's all-format batsman. Rahul scored his debut hundred at the famous Sydney Cricket Ground, and also notched up a few hundreds against West Indies, Sri Lanka and England.
His performances against Australia during the 2017 Border-Gavaskar Trophy won him a lot of fans. But just when things started looking bright for India during their overseas season, things started going downhill for Rahul.
Rahul started the South African tour with high hopes but was found wanting against the new ball. He was frequently troubled by pace and bounce and couldn't make any sizable contribution in South Africa.
He continued to struggle in England and Australia, even though he scored a classy 149 at The Oval against England.
As of now, Rahul had lost his spot to Mayank Agarwal and Prthivi Shaw. If he overcomes his shortcomings, he will be a success story in international cricket, something India would love to have as a selection headache.