India's Alternate T20 XI

In India, cricket is not a game, it is a religion, something very integral and natural to Indian culture. Children start playing with the bat and ball from a very young age, often running away from schools and colleges and playing cricket by bunking classes. It seems to have become a way of expressing ourselves, just the way Football is in Europe and South America.

Apart from being plenty of positives to take from that, there are several negatives aspects that one cannot ignore. The most major one being that, since there are millions of ardent cricket followers and lovers, there are plenty who are passionate enough to give it a shot.

These people take to Professional Cricket, but very few, in fact, a negligible percentage of them are actually able to make it even average, let alone making it big.

The likes of Amol Mazumdar, Wasim Jaffer, Ranadeb Bose and Yere Goud, among others, did not get opportunities to actually show their true potential. Many may blame the eras in which they played, as India never had any dearth of talent, with new and more impressive cricketers coming up in each generation.

These players who could either never play in the Indian jersey or could not do much in the very few games they got to play, might have also proven to be extremely effective and impressive if made to perform together. They might have even performed equally well, or just minutely worse, vis-a-vis their National team counterparts.

There are many such players today as well, who have shown immense potential and great temperament in T20 cricket, especially with the IPL becoming the cash-rich competitive league it is today. Every IPL team has some great talent in the form of uncapped players or players with less than 5 matches for India.

Let us look at one such playing XI that could give good competition to the current National side in T20 Cricket.

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#1 Prithvi Shaw

Shaw has been impressive for India A and Delhi Daredevils

The very famous young boy who led India U-19 team to a World Cup win early this year, bringing the cup home after 6 years, Prithvi Shaw has shown tremendous temperament and consistency across formats, be it Tests, ODIs or T20s.

He has been around for a while and has lots of experience of playing in foreign conditions, having played in England at an age of 13. When southpaw Gautam Gambhir stepped down from the role of captaining the Delhi Daredevils in this year's IPL, it was young Prithvi who took his place and did justice to it.

#2 Ishan Kishan

The young boy from Jharkhand never made the Indian public or the selectors or any former cricketer speak very highly of him, then why should one consider him for representing a side equivalent to the National side? Because he is immensely talented and has shown tremendous improvement in a very very short period of time.

Initially noticed while opening alongside the lustrous and seemingly prodigious Rishabh Pant, Ishan was seen as an orthodox traditional-era type batsman, who would play grounded and generally not tend to hit aerial and modern-day cricketing shots.

One would not have expected to see him play for any of the IPL franchises in the near future from then, let alone the Indian Senior Team. Nonetheless, he got picked by Gujarat Lions in the 2016 Season of the IPL. Again, nobody expected him to play, given that Gujarat had quality openers such as Aaron Finch, Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith, but again, he was given opportunities to bat at number 6. He had a forgettable season with just 42 runs in 5 matches, scored at an Average of 8.4 runs and a Strike Rate of 102.4. It was clearly not the then 17-year-old's cup of tea.

Then comes the IPL 2017 and as always, oppositions look to go hard at the 18-year-old Ishan Kishan, who did not surrender this time, scoring 277 runs in 11 matches, averaging 27.7 and striking the ball at 134.46 runs per 100 balls.

The new 'Evolved' Ishan Kishan of present day

Kishan announced himself as a future star when he smashed 39 runs off just 16 balls against RCB and a 61* off 40 balls against Mumbai Indians.

In IPL 2018, Ishan Kishan played as a floater for Mumbai Indians and scored 275 runs with a staggering strike rate of 149.45. He has now proven that he is no less than Rishabh Pant, having scored 62 off 21 balls against KKR this year and also played responsibly throughout the season, doing complete justice to his number 3 spot.

#3 Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer has been around for a while now and has also been knocking the National team's doors for quite some time. He has been impressive in the IPL and the domestic circuit and has also shown great capability while playing for India against Sri Lanka, where he replaced Virat Kohli and took his number 3 spot.

He has broadened his horizon as a batsman this year, as he captained his side fairly well and also maintained above average personal performances, batting the way the team needed in every situation. He can be a very promising number 3 if persisted with.

#4 Ambati Rayudu

One cannot find words to describe the extraordinary way in which Ambati Rayudu had batted this IPL. Firstly, getting picked by a side that has a huge reputation to live up to, secondly, not being sure whether he will get to be part of the playing XIs or not, Thirdly, to come out of the shadow of Shane Watson, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni and do what he is good at.

Those were a lot of problems to deal with, at the beginning of the season. The Hyderabadi batsman had other plans though, getting an opportunity to open the batting, Rayudu took it with open arms and did exceedingly well, eventually making Murali Vijay sit out throughout the season.

Rayudu ended up as CSK's highest run scorer, scoring a career-best 602 runs in the season, at a career-best Strike Rate of 149.75 and at a career-best average of 43. It was a shock to see him getting dropped from the limited overs team against England due to fitness issues and it stirred some controversy too. Nevertheless, Rayudu is a gem for Indian Cricket at the moment and must be used well by the team, looking towards the 2019 World Cup.

#5 Rishabh Pant

Much has been said about this young batting powerhouse, but it never seems enough. When Rishabh Pant plays big innings, one just cannot look away from his/her television set. He has always been a big hitter of the cricket ball, predominantly strong on the leg side and always looking out for big shots.

In the recently concluded IPL, he announced himself as a complete batsman, who could bat up the order and bat as per the situation. He played a lot of nicely paced innings, unlike his previous style of going against the bowlers from the onset.

Also, he has added a wide array of shots to his repertoire. He can now be called a complete batsman, who is ready for a national call-up. He is also probably the best possible replacement for MS Dhoni in the long run, as he can keep wickets and also hit the ball really hard.

It is unfortunate that he has not received an opportunity to play against England and neither is he expected to.

#6 Shubman Gill

Shubman Gill has come up as a reliable batsman for the Indian batting setup, being in line to represent India in the near future. He was part of the World Cup winning U-19 squad of 2018, was leading it as a deputy to Prithvi Shaw and had played some extraordinary innings.

Being instrumental in India's title win, he received the ICC 'Rising Star of the Squad' Award as he ended as the highest run scorer for India in the tournament, with 372 runs and also the Man of the Tournament. He showed excellent skills with the bat in the IPL as well, batting at number 5 or 6 for KKR and taking his side over the line on multiple occasions.

#7 Krunal Pandya

Krunal Pandya has proven himself time and again as a quality floater batsman and a genuine spin bowling all-rounder. Right since his IPL debut in 2016, Pandya senior has exhibited the ability to bat in the middle order and play big innings, as well as bat down the order and finish off games.

Not to forget that his left arm orthodox bowling can be lethal too and he has claimed the wickets of some of the best in the business, including the great AB de Villiers, who now seems to have become his bunny.

It will be exciting to see how he prepares ahead of the 2019 World Cup and if he does well enough, he could be seen as a genuine number 6 batsman for India, and that would also give India a genuine sixth bowling option.

#9 Deepak Chahar

Deepak Chahar has been a sensation, and more importantly, MS Dhoni's find of the season.

Chahar has shown some exceptional skills of swinging the new ball and picking wickets early as well. CSK owes part of it's success to Deepak Chahar and Lungisani Ngidi, who have turned out to be fabulous T20 players. MS Dhoni has again proven his great knack of recognising potential and talent among the uncapped players.

From being a young boy who had been discouraged to play the game by Greg Chappell to the flamboyant swing bowler who can also smash the ball in the last overs, Deepak Chahar has come a long way and can do wonders if played for India regularly.

#9 Mayank Markande

Markande has been terrific for Mumbai this season, picking 15 wickets in 14 matches, but most of them being well known and established batsmen. From being a name almost nobody had heard before the commencement of the IPL to becoming Mumbai Indians' X-factor this season, Markande has entered the list of leg spinners to watch out for, as leg spinners are presently ruling the limited overs' bowling setup, especially T20s.

#10 Siddharth Kaul

Siddharth Kaul, the young medium pacer who won the U-19 World Cup in 2008 alongside Virat Kohli and then suddenly seemed to have vanished has returned to the spotlight. He missed a few games for SRH in IPL 2017 and was not able to hit the selectors' radar, but this year, he has proven himself as a wicket-taking bowler by scalping 21 wickets and not giving away too many runs. Kaul's impressive IPL performance has earned him a national call-up too.

#11 Ankit Rajpoot

The youthful Kanpur boy who created a lot of buzz with his pace and swing with the new ball for KXIP, Rajpoot is a T20 specialist. He has been doing abnormally well with the ball for a while now, with great performances in the Inter-State T20 Tournament as well as IPL 2018. Although he could not take his team to the playoffs, he has a hand in KXIP's early success in the IPL.