10 most talented young upcoming players in international cricket right now

3. Ahmed Shehzad - Pakistan

Ahmed Shehzad

Pakistan have suffered a good deal due to non-cricketing reasons in the past as they still remain exiled from home territory. Their cricketing troubles in the recent past have been concerned with pathetic batting performances.

Misbah-ul-Haq is a consistent player but his performances in the shorter format can often be frustrating. This problem was made evident in 2013 when Pakistan failed to muster 200 runs in any of their 3 group matches in the Champions Trophy. They were brought to their knees by a weak West Indian side as the likes of Md. Hafeez, Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi failed repeatedly with the willow.

Ahmed Shehzad has emerged as a potential cure for these troubles. He has showed a great deal of mettle, a desire and willingness to battle it out in tough conditions that always goes a long way in the creation of an international cricketer.

This is exemplified in the fact that he has scored his runs in alien conditions of New Zealand, West Indies and South Africa where he grabbed a ton each. He announced himself in the Test arena with a convincing knock of 147 at Sharjah against Sri Lanka.

He will get enough time to improve upon his batting average of 33.00 aggregated in 40 ODI’s but consistency will be the measure of his development given that most Pakistan batsman fail on that standard.

2. James Faulkner – Australia

James Faulkner

You would perhaps forget that James Faulkner is still only 23 years of age given the fact that he has been in the eye of cricket world for a fair period of time. He has starred for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, made a big impact for Australia in the shorter format of the game with his economical bowling and late batting blitz and is knocking on the doors of the Test side.

Sometimes skills are secondary when a player has overwhelming passion and hunger to win and that seems to be the case with Faulkner. He reminds one of the Australian greats of the 90s: the likes of Matthew Hayden, Shane Warne, Glenn Mcgrath who were ferocious in their approach to the game.

Faulkner is a player of limited capabilities but he makes it up with his all-round play, never say die attitude and cricketing intelligence. He is an excellent death bowler who can get the yorkers in and bowl the slower varieties to great effect. His claim to fame however has been some splendid knocks lower down the order against India and England that allowed Australia to steal victory from the clutches of defeat.

He has the potential to become a proper all-rounder and an integral part of Australia’s 2015 World Cup plans.

1. Corey Anderson – New Zealand

Corey Anderson

Anderson has grabbed all the eyeballs by breaking Shahid Afridi’s long standing record of the fastest ton in ODIs. The left-handed batsman seems to be in a hurry when he makes his runs and there is a great deal of method to his madness.

We have too many lower order batsmen who do not put a price on their wicket and slog away to their own death. Anderson however seems to put the bowling side under such immense pressure with his clean hitting that the bowlers are forced to make mistakes readjusting their line and lengths.

Anderson is more than a handful as a bowler too and can give his captain the full quota of overs. His career stats at this nascent stage cannot reveal the impact that he has made on the cricketing world at such short notice. The individual performances that he has given against India and West Indies give a better indication of his capabilities.

He picked a five-wicket haul in the recently concluded tied match against India and that whirlwind knock of 131 not out against the West Indies will loom large in memory for a long time to come. He gives New Zealand a lot more than just batting and bowling options; his spurts of energy with bat and ball can change the attitude of a team that has always under-achieved at the highest stage.