India‘s former cricketer Wasim Jaffer has named three India potential stars who he thinks can be the perfect flag bearers of the Indian team’s legacy after the legendary duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli calls time on their careers. Two of the three batters picked by Jaffer included players who have already debuted for the country at the international level, while the third is yet to get a call-up from the national side.
It is worth mentioning that Rohit and Virat have been the backbone of the Indian cricket team for a very long time. The pair have stood up for the team on many difficult occasions and are among the biggest match-winners.
Speaking to Jio Cinema, Jaffer named young sensation Yashasvi Jaiswal his first choice. Notably, Jaiswal is in the form of his life and recently made his red-ball debut against West Indies by hammering a ton in his very first match. The 21-year-old opener had a great outing in the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well, amassing 625 runs.
The second pick for Jaffer came in the form of Shubman Gill, whom he termed a strong contender for taking the Indian cricket team forward after Rohit and Virat. Gill finished as the highest run-getter of the IPL 2023 and smashed three hundreds in the process. He is also only the fifth Indian cricketer to slam centuries in all formats of cricket.
“One is Yashasvi Jaiswal. I see him as a three-format player. He has performed amazingly well in the IPL and has made an excellent start in Test cricket,” said Jaffer.
“Shubman Gill is the second name I will take. If we talk only about batting, I see these two players as very strong contenders who will take Indian cricket forward after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli,” he added.
The former Mumbai batter chose Sai Sudharsan as his third choice. Sai had a brilliant run for Gujarat Titans (GT) in the 16th edition of the IPL and also performed exceptionally well in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) 2023. The 21-year-old batter is currently representing India in the ACC Men’s Emerging Asia Cup and is yet to make his international debut.
Throwing light behind the reason for picking Sai as his third choice, Jaffer stated: “Sai Sudharsan is a player who I have liked a lot, the way he has played in the IPL. After that, he has scored a century against Pakistan A in the emerging teams’ tournament that is going on. So I feel he can become a very good player in the future.”
