Devdutt Padikkal is the guy for the future; no two ways about it: Former Chief Selector MSK Prasad

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently announced the squad for India’s World Test Championship final clash against New Zealand and the following five-match Test series against England. The 20-man squad had a few eyebrow-raising exclusions as Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, and Prithvi Shaw failed to find a spot, while T Natarajan had to miss out due to his knee injury.

There were few welcome inclusions too, as the BCCI named four reserves in Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, and Arzan Nagwaswalla, who all will be travelling with the team as cover for any contingency. While many hoped that Bhuvneshwar will make comeback after he did in the limited-overs recently, he was opted not to be included.

Eyes were also on some bright and new prospects such as the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) opener Devdutt Padikkal, who has been in fine form in the Indian Premier League (IPL) over the last couple of years and has lit up India’s domestic circuit too. He amassed a massive tally of 727 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy this year, ending as the second-highest run-scorer behind Prithvi Shaw, while he carried that form in the 14th edition of the IPL, scoring 195 runs in six games including a match-winning century against Rajasthan Royals.

 It will take some time for him to break into the longest format: MSK Prasad

Although, the Indian team’s former chief selector MSK Prasad feels that there is still some time for Padikkal to enter into the Test setup of India. While he feels that the 20-year-old is a bright prospect, Prasad feels that he would need another good year in the domestic circuit to make his case strong for entering the Indian Test unit.

“It will take some time for Devdutt Padikkal to break into the longest format. He’s definitely the guy for the future, there are no two ways about it. But if you’re looking at longer formats, maybe he will take one more year of domestic cricket,” Prasad was quoted as saying by SportsKeeda.

Meanwhile, speaking about the backup inclusion of Prasidh Krishna, Prasad said: “You have India A bowlers, all these Prasidh Krishna and Ishan Porel have gone through India A cricket. Also, it’s pretty evident the way Avesh Khan bowled in the IPL, he was hitting 145-147 kmph in T20 format, so he will obviously be very helpful to practice with in England. And eventually, these are the guys who are going to play for the country in the future.”