5 players who could have replaced Murali Vijay instead of Shikhar Dhawan

#3 Rishabh Pant

Only three players scored more runs than Rishabh Pant in the 2016/17 Ranji Trophy but none of them scored those runs at a better strike rate than the Indian U-19 star. Nearly 1,000 runs in a Ranji season is a remarkable achievement and the fact that he got those runs at a strike rate of nearly 110 and average of over 80 just highlights how dominant he was during the season.

Later in the season, he even got the Delhi captaincy and before the season was done, had even represented India in a T20I. Since then he has played one more T20I (against West Indies), was part of the ODI series against West Indies but hasn't even come close to being considered for the Test spot. Although he is a middle-order batsman in the longest format of the game, he can bring the sense of urgency that is sometimes lacking in the Test side.

That he is already on the fringes of the limited-overs side shows that the selectors think that he is good enough to play for India. Perhaps, one season is too season to bring in a 19-year-old into the Test side but it certainly would have done him no harm to be in the squad on an away tour early in his career.