Rating India's debutant cricketers of 2018

The Indian Cricket Team is one of the most feared and dominating sides in world cricket. Currently, the team under Virat Kohli has been on a roller-coaster ride as India have tasted immense success in home conditions as well as playing competitive cricket in overseas conditions.

In 2018, India has numerous trophies under their kitty including the T20I and ODI series against South Africa, Nidahas Trophy, T20I series against England and Ireland, Asia Cup, T20I, ODI, and Test Series against Windies.

With India having a surplus amount of talented cricketers in their ranks, it has been very difficult for players to cement their place in the side. As a result, the selection committee has adopted a cutting and chopping method wherein players are dropped or axed after a string of sloppy performances.

In this process, a lot of Indian cricketers have made their debuts for the national team and have enjoyed their own share of success. A lot of youngsters including Prithvi Shaw, Hanuma Vihari, Mayank Agarwal, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddharth Kaul, Vijay Shankar have donned the Indian colors this year.

Here, we take a look at how India's debutant cricketers of 2018 have fared so far.

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Deepak Chahar - 4/10

CSK's find is yet to find his feet in International Arena

Deepak Chahar, the 2018 IPL sensation is one of the most effective bowlers in the powerplays. He made his ODI debut for India against England after he was called in as a replacement for the injured Jasprit Bumrah. However, he could not make much of an impact against England as he gave away 37 runs in 4 overs with just a solitary wicket to his name.

Despite this, he was given another chance against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup to prove his worth. But, he failed miserably as he conceded 43 runs from 4 overs at an economy rate of 10.75 and was belted away for runs.

Vijay Shankar -5/10

Vijay Shankar might need a lot of luck to get back into the national team

Vijay Shankar, the all-rounder from Tamil Nadu found a spot in India's second-string squad for the Nidahas Trophy held in Sri Lanka. Though he featured in India's all the 5 matches in the tournament, he managed just 3 wickets and conceded 153 runs at an economy rate of 9.00.

Also, he failed in the solitary innings he got to bat as he scored just 17 runs from as many balls and lacked an attacking intent.

Siddharth Kaul -5.5/10

Siddharth Kaul has the potential to cement his place in the national squad

Siddharth Kaul, the medium-pacer from Chandigarh found a spot in India's squad for the ODI and T20I series against England and Ireland due to his bowling exploits in the 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League.

Albeit, he managed to pick up 3 wickets from 2 T20I games at an impressive economy of 6.50, his ODI performances were far from convincing as he conceded 179 runs remained wicketless in his 3 ODI appearances.

Krunal Pandya -6/10

Krunal Pandya

Krunal Pandya, the Mumbai Indians' all-rounder made his debut for India against West Indies at Eden Gardens. Despite getting a national call-up for T20 series against England as a replacement for injured Washington Sundar, he had to wait for 4 months to make his first appearance for India.

He has featured in 6 T20I matches where he has taken 6 wickets at an economy rate of 8.23. He has got only 2 innings to bat where he has scored a combined total of 23 runs.

Hanuma Vihari -7/10

Australia v India - 3rd Test: Day 1

Hanuma Vihari, the Indian batting all-rounder is currently one of the in-form Indian batsmen. He has caught the attention of a lot of eyes ever since he made his Test debut against England.

He has proved to be a multi-utility player as he can stay in the crease for a long time and also provide the much-needed breakthroughs during the middle overs of the game. He has featured in 3 tests so far and has scored 125 runs with a high score of 56. Even though he didn't score much in the just concluded third test between India and Australia, he did manage to survive that first hour in the first session (not to forget while batting out of position) which has seen India lose too many wickets of late. Moreover, he also has 5 dismissals to his name.

Khaleel Ahmed -8/10

Khaleel looks all set to board the flight to England next year

The return of Hardik Pandya to India's limited-overs' squad might see the young Khaleel Ahmed out of the playing XI, however, the 21-year-old speedster has given a good account of himself in the limited opportunities he has been provided with before the World Cup.

He made his ODI debut against Hong Kong in the 2018 Asia Cup and helped a rusty Indian side to get over the line against the minnows by picking up 3 wickets.

He might have already booked his berth for ICC World Cup 2019 as he has been racking up consistent performances. He has featured in 6 ODI's and has scalped 11 wickets at an eye-catching economy rate of 5.07.

He has also fared well in T20I's and has 6 dismissals to his name from as many matches.

Mayank Agarwal -9/10

Mayank Aggarwal grabbed the opportunity with both hands

Mayank Agarwal, the Karnataka opener finally got the nod to play for India after scoring heavily in the domestic circuit. He made his debut for India against Australia in the third test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar test series and has grabbed the opportunity with both hands which was presented before him due to misfiring 1st choice openers in KL Rahul and Murli Vijay

Mayank Agarwal played a great knock of 76 in the first innings. In the second innings as well, he was the highest scorer with 42 runs.

Prithvi Shaw -10/10

The next big thing in Indian Cricket!!

Prithvi Shaw, the 19-year-old youngster from Mumbai completely deserves to be India's best debutant cricketer of 2018. He received a call-up for the test series against West Indies due to the poor form of 1st choice openers in Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan.

Prithvi Shaw went all guns blazing in his debut match and scored a well-deserved century. He has featured in 2 tests for India where he has scored 237 runs at an impressive average of 118.50 and a whopping strike-rate of 94.04.

He was expected to play a key role for India in the tests against Australia, but an ankle injury during one of the warm-up matches ruled him out of the series.