Shikhar Dhawan
‘Gabbar’ has arrived with a bang. He couldn’t impress during his previous stint but this time he ensured that the whole world take a bow when he scored the fastest Test century by a debutant against Australia in Mohali and twirled his newly-grown Moustache. And to make sure that no one takes it as a one-off knock, he scored two back-to-back centuries in India’s successful Champions Trophy campaign and was adjudged Man of the Tournament. He seems a worthy replacement of Virender Sehwag.
Virat Kohli
He has been there for so long that now it is hard to believe he is just 24. He is tipped as the future captain. In the aftermath of retirement or dropping of senior players, Kohli has emerged as the mainstay of Indian batting. His is aggressive yet mature attitude makes him one of the best limited overs batsmen in the world presently. He has the knack of playing big innings under pressure situations and bears a lot of importance for Indian cricket in the coming years.
Suresh Raina
He is the senior-most member of the Indian team after skipper Dhoni and bats with a lot of responsibilty. The left-hander from Uttar Pradesh is an attacking modern-day cricketer. He likes to play big shots and clears the boundary at will. Batting at No 5, Raina provides the team much needed boost within a short span of time with his hard wide range of strokeplay. Besides that he constantly attract applause with his electic fielding. He is an all-round fielder who can field anywhere from slip to long-off.
Dinesh Karthik
After being in and out of the team five years, he was ignored for two long years. He used that period to iron out technical flaws in his batting and returned as a far more better and confident batsman. His domestic and IPl form made selectors give him another chance which he grabbed with both hands scoring two back-to-back centuries in the warm-up games ahead of Champions Trophy. He is a versatile cricketer who can keep, field and bat at any position and is good to keep in the team.
Rohit sharma
His talent was never doubted. The graceful strokeplay, supple wrists and that extra half-a-second to play shots draws awe-inspiring reactions from every corner. But he couldn’t translate that talent into consistent scores which made him a ‘replacement’ player. Though he looked a more sorted player since getting the Mumbai Indians captaincy in the IPl. Since there was no place in the middle-order, he opened the innings in the Champions Trophy. His refreshing approach and confidence brought him success and now looks settled for a long innings.