Prithvi Shaw: Promoted to senior league in style
Teenager Prithvi had a great start to 2018 where he became part of the Rs 1 crore club in the IPL auction. After that he was part of the winning Under-19 ODI World Cup team and hit a 94 against Australia and a couple of handy knocks in the semis and final. But the best was yet to come.
18-year-old Shaw became the youngest Test centurion for India with a brisk 134 off 154 against the West Indies at Rajkot. He was Man of the Match. In the second Test he hit a blistering 70 off 53 followed by 33*(45). He was Man of the Series.
A U-19 World Cup. Rs 1crore plus at the IPL. A fantastic Test debut. All in one year. And to think he missed the Test series in Australia due to injury!
Rishabh Pant: All-round brilliance
Pant made his Test debut in the England series in August and made his first century in his first series, a plucky 114 off 146 with four sixes. He followed that up with a couple of 92s in the West Indies tour. However, Pant is not a specialist batsman but a wicket-keeper.
And he shone as a wicket-keeper with a world record equalling 11 dismissals in the Adelaide Test where we went 1 up. And this after a dropped catch! And to think that as his predecessor Wridhimman Saha made the Indian record of 10 in the year. This even as another wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik proved to be a master finisher at the Nidahas Trophy!
Who needs MS Dhoni?
Jaspit Bumrah: The pace attack is complete
Bumrah made his debut in both ODIs and international T20s back in 2016 and has already become a reliable hand in these formats. However, it was only in 2018 that he managed to make his Test debut, such is the wealth of fast bowlers that India has today.
In his very first innings of the Cape Town Test with South Africa, he bowled the legend AB de Villiers. In the second innings he did better mopping up the middle order: ABD, captain Faf du Plessis and hard hitter Quinton de Kock. Alas, the batsmen didn’t back Bumrah up.
In the third Test, India crashed to 187 all down but a stunning 5-wicket haul by Bumrah saw SA fold for 194. In the second innings Bumrah got ABD yet again along with de Kock and India finally saw a rare victory in SA. India’s pace attack seemed to be complete.
Hima Das: A future Olympic prospect
18-year-old Hima was put through an unnecessary controversy by the media when the Athletics Federation of India through @afiindia commented on her English speaking skills. But the teenager did India proud by winning a gold and two silvers at the Asian Games in Jakarta. In the World Under-20 Championships at Tampere in Finland she won gold in the 400 metres and is now a solid potential medal prospect for the Olympics in the future.
Rohan More: Swimming the 7 Oceans
Not many people in India have heard of the Oceans Seven swimming marathon. Called the swimming equivalent of the mountaineering Seven Summits challenge, you have to cross the North channel, the Cook Strait, the Molokai channel, the English channel, the Catalina channel, the Tsugaru Strait and the Strait of Gibraltar to complete it.
Not many people have heard of Rohan More either. While aged 31, not exactly young in the world of sports, More became the world’s youngest to complete this challenge early this year and also the first Asian.
Manu Bhaker: The teenage shooting ace
This shooter turned 16 in 2018. Before she was an anonymous name for the average Indian but she really took the world by storm this year. First she won two golds in the 2018 ISSF (International Shooting Sport Federation) World Cup at Guadalajara in Mexico.
After that she headed to the Gold Coast in Australia for the Commonwealth Games where she won another gold medal, again in the 10 metre pistol event. Finally she went for the Youth Olympic Games (a senior and a junior simultaneously!) where she won a gold and a silver!
Jeremy Lalrinnunga: Breaking the jinx
In the above mentioned Youth Olympics, India drew a blank in the first and second editions. However in the third edition at Buenos Aires 2018, India came good with three golds and nine silvers, our best showing so far. The jinx was broken by Jeremy Lalrinnunga from Aizawl, who won gold in the 62 kg weightlifting category.
Mayank Markande: Another good spin prospect
This 21-year-old ace spinner became the third youngest IPL player to get four wickets in an innings when he took 4-23 for Mumbai Indians in a match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The four were: Shikhar Dhawan, Shakib-al Hasan, Manish Pandey and Wriddhiman Saha. Mayank took 15 wickets in the 2018 season and picked up for just Rs 20 lakhs, a steal for MI.
from Sify.com
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