5 promising young cricket players in the world right now

You know cricketing generations are making a switch when suddenly all the newspapers talk about Prithvi Shaw more than the settled Indian star players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin.

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While three Indian youth cricketing stars were handed their debuts against England in the Test series on English soil, there surely has been some passing of the baton going on, not only in Indian cricket but all over the world, probably at least in the top few cricketing nations.

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With Steven Smith and David Warner suspended by Cricket Australia, the Aussies have been trying their homegrown youth players as the latter seem to enjoy this opportunity caused by a disturbing absence of Australia's two most important players.

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From 'Down Under', if we move a little west, there are the Proteas who have successfully handled the phase of their individual star generation stepping down and a new crop of South African cricketing stars stepping up.

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It's time we will slowly start watching senior players getting replaced either due to poor form or due to fitness and form issues, and who better than young players to replace these guys.

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Well, some of the young players might just have made their spots in the team fixed, thanks to their consistency. Let's have a look at our top 5 young cricket stars in the world right now.

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#5 Matt Renshaw (Australia)

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Our fifth spot is bagged by someone who has definitely advantaged due to David Warner's suspension, 22-year old Matt Renshaw.

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An opening batsman and a right arm leg break bowler, Renshaw is someone who has chosen a conservative manner to rise through the Australian ranks, by focusing on Test cricket more than the trending T20 format.

He impressed in his Test Debut against Pakistan 2 years ago in 2016, when he was sent top of the Australian order to partner in-form David Warner. He scored 71 in his second Test against Pakistan and he became the youngest ever player in Australian history to get a high score of 184 in Test cricket, when he achieved the feat in the fourth Test against the same opposition.

Renshaw is not part of the Australian side who is currently playing their on-going Test match against Pakistan, but is a favourite to be picked up for the later Tests to follow, if the Aussies intend to shuffle the team a bit, as performances are not favouring them and Pakistan is piling up pressure.

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#4 Prithvi Shaw (India)

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Such is the might and greatness of this young star of Indian cricket, that it's almost half a decade now that cricket enthusiasts in India are tracking his progress and hearing about him in almost all news sources.

The right handed player from the outskirts of Mumbai, praised very often by Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar himself when he was just starting off in inter-school cricket, Shaw has garnered praise from the whole cricketing fraternity for his consistency and unique abilities.

He has been compared to Tendulkar for the similar batting technique.

Prithvi Shaw has been a good famous cricket name in the Mumbai Cricket for sometime now, but he rose to international stardom at a mere age of 18 when India won the U19 World Cup this year, under his leadership and coach Rahul Dravid's guidance.

He currently featured for India's senior Test side as the Indians hosted West Indies in a Test series.

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#3 Kagiso Rabada (South Africa)

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What is an interesting piece of trivia, which I realised right now while writing this article, is the fact that all 5 names on the list are players trying to make it big in Test Cricket at such a young age. In an age of T20 stardom, that is a very interesting fact.

Moving on, the third spot on our list is none other than 23-year old South African pacer Kagiso Rabada. The right arm fast bowler who bowls 140+ consistently in all formats for the Proteas has been South Africa's answer to ageing Dale Steyn and the Morkel brothers.

In just 32 Test Matches, and at the age of mere 23, Rabada has an astonishing 151 wickets for South Africa in the Test format, which is an amazing feat.

#2 Babar Azam (Pakistan)

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What a better introduction to the 24-year old Pakistan starlet than the fact that while I type this article out, Azam is in his 90s against the mightiest Australians in the ongoing Test between the two sides (he was dismissed for 99 eventually).

Babar Azam is currently the 6th best ranked ODI batsman in the world as ranked by ICC.

With an average of 52 and 53 in ODIs and T20Is respectively, Babar Azam is one of the biggest reasons why Pakistan might be contending highly for the World Cup next year in England. His aggression in his batting technique has got all the Pakistan cricket fans excited about his prospect for a long time now.

As previously mentioned, Azam is currently featuring for Pakistan in their Test series versus Australia.

#1 Sam Curran (England)

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He can bat. He can bowl. He is just 20 and probably the best young player in the world right now, at least at his age.

Even if not yet tested on foreign tours, as he is still to debut for England in an overseas series, Curran is a star in domestic County cricket back. At just a mere age of 20, he has 241 wickets in domestic cricket in all formats!

If there was any reason India almost clinched more than one Test in England a couple of months back, just to lose the game eventually, it was probably Curran's spectacular performances with both the bat and with the ball, which unexpectedly stole the show.

It was interesting to see how Curran reacted under-pressure when the English team, filled with seasoned legends, depended on the Surrey all-rounder, and boy, he didn't disappoint.

With our first spot on the list today, we hope Curran wouldn't disappoint in the long run either.

Do let us know in the comments below, who you think is the best young player in the world right now.

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Edited by
Sarah Waris
 
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