Around a decade ago, Team India had a good reserve of left-arm pacers. While Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra were at the helm, players such as Irfan Pathan were also in the team. However, Team India has found it hard to replace them. In this article, we take a look at five left-arm pacers tried by India after the era of Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra.
A left-arm pacer is a necessity for any cricket team now. In this era of match-ups, teams usually prefer to have all the bases covered. However, for India, the vacancy left by the likes of Zaheer, Ashish and Irfan has been hard to fill. The selectors, though, have tried their best but no option has come off.
1) Jaydev Unadkat
Jaydev Unadkat was tried by India long ago even when the likes of Zaheer and Ashish were active. He was seen as the future of this department of pace bowling. However, he could not do well in the limited chances. Although he is doing well in domestic cricket now, opportunities have been hard to come by.
2) Sreenath Aravind
Sreenath Aravind got one game to play for India after his show for RCB in IPL. However, he never came back to the team again. Currently, he is one of the coaches of Team Karnataka in domestic cricket.
3) K Khaleel Ahmed
K Khaleel Ahmed is also one of the left-arm pacers tried by India after the era of Zaheer and Ashish. After his exploits in the U19 circuit, Khaleel was called to play for India. He actually got plenty of chances but could not leave an impression. The Rajasthan man is now out of the team. That said, Khaleel has the potential and is still young. If he can improve his accuracy and work on other attributes, he could still get a chance.
4) Barinder Sran
It was in 2016 that Sran made his debut for India. He had a decent outing in domestic cricket and followed it up with a noteworthy performance in IPL 2016. Sran could not cement his place and does not have an IPL contract now.
5) T Natarajan
T Natarajan was one of the best players in IPL 2020. Hence, he got to tour Australia and Natarajan debuted in all three formats of the game. However, injuries have hampered his progress. He is fighting it back to get back into Team India. It is tough but very much possible considering he did well for the country in the short while that he played for them.
6) Chetan Sakariya
Chetan is the latest addition to this list of left-arm pacers tried by India after the era of Zaheer and Ashish. When India toured Sri Lanka in 2021, courtesy of his solid show in the first phase of IPL 2021, Chetan was selected to represent India. He did get a few games and put up a decent show. However, since then, he has not been selected again. Chetan would need a good domestic season along with a productive IPL to be back in the reckoning.
