*These players can earn a national call-up soon: Experts
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 21: Swashbuckling middle-order batsman from Jammu and Kashmir, Abdul Samad has emerged as one of the top performers among a list of five in the Ranji Trophy 2019-20, which culminated one week ago with Saurashtra emerging as the champions.
The Jaydev Unadkat-led side defeated Bengal by virtue of their first innings lead. Big names like Cheteshwar Pujara and Wriddhiman Saha took part in this year’s final as the most prestigious domestic competition of Indian cricket came to an end.
Over the years, several big names have broken into the international arena because of their splendid performances in Ranji Trophy. The current Indian stars namely Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah and likes owe their success to Ranji Trophy.
This year, the fans witnessed the rise of several new stars and here is a list of the top 5 players who according to experts could earn a national call-up because of their good performance in Ranji Trophy 2019-20.
The list of top five performers in Ranji Trophy 2019-20 includes wicketkeeper/batsman Srikar Bharat from Andhra Pradesh, speedster Jaydev Unadkat from Saurashtra, explosive batsman Sarfaraz Khan from Mumbai, stylish batsman, who can bowl leg-breaks also Abdul Samad from J&K and medium pace bowler Ishan Porel from Bengal.
The big-hitter from Jammu and Kashmir, Abdul Samad stole the show in this edition of Ranji Trophy with his towering sixes. No other batsman could hit even 30 sixes in this competition while Samad slammed 37 maximums to earn the record of most sixes in Ranji Trophy 2019-20. Samad is a part of Sunrisers Hyderabad squad in IPL 2020.
Veteran Indian all-rounder, Irfan Pathan has played a huge role in his success and Samad showcased his talent with some fine performances in this tournament. Surprisingly, the 18-year-old player did not feature in the India U-19 squad for the U-19 World Cup.
Samad showed no relent to the bowlers of Assam as he registered a 73-ball century against them. He repeated the same performance against Jharkhand as he hit 11 sixes in his innings of 128 runs. As he bowls leg break as well, he can earn a national call-up in the near future.
Deemed by many as the premier Indian wicket-keeper batsman in the domestic arena, Srikar Bharat ended Ranji Trophy 2019-20 as the most successful wicketkeeper, executed 37 dismissals behind the stumps at an average of 2.85 dismissals/innings.
The skipper of the champions Saurashtra team, Jaydev Unadkat silenced all of his critics with a brilliant performance in Ranji Trophy 2019-20. The left-arm pace bowler ended the season as the highest wicket-taker (65 wickets) from all teams and he narrowly missed out on the all-time record of (68 wickets) in Ranji Trophy.
The batsman with the highest batting average in Ranji Trophy 2019-20, Sarfaraz Khan emerged as one of the most improved players in this season. Khan began his campaign with an unbeaten innings of 71 runs against Karnataka. He failed to score big against Tamil Nadu but he shattered multiple records with a superb innings of 301* against Uttar Pradesh.
He followed it up with an unbeaten double century versus Himachal Pradesh and at one moment it seemed like no bowler in the world could dismiss Sarfaraz.
The 21-year-old fast bowler from Bengal, Ishan Porel led his team’s pace attack magnificently in Ranji Trophy 2019-20. As he was a part of India A squad that toured New Zealand during the course of Ranji Trophy, he missed a few games for Bengal. But still, he was one of the top performers of his side, playing a match-winning role for them in the semifinal versus Karnataka, scalping 7 wickets in the high-pressure encounter.
Thus, these are the five top performers of Ranji Trophy 2019-20 who can earn a national call-up soon.
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