E-Paper
Sign in
Mark Waugh identifies India’s rising star as Test cricket’s next great batter; Michael Vaughan disagrees
Mark Waugh chose India's young sensation as his pick, while Michael Vaughan picked one from his own country.
With the fabled Fab Four – Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root and Kane Williamson - in the last legs of their careers, the baton now passes over to the next generation of cricketers. These are still early days, but the likes of Shubman Gill, Rachin Ravindra, Harry Brook and Yashasvi Jaiswal are tipped to dominate world cricket for the next decade and a half. Among them, a few have already started to make noise. Gill has elevated his Test status as India’s captain and enjoyed a record-breaking series in England last year, while Harry Brook is considered one of the most exciting young batters going around in world cricket. Jaiswal’s stocks are consistently, and Ravindra seems to be quickly becoming world cricket’s best all-rounders.
With the future of Test cricket in secure hands, Australian great Mark Waugh was asked to pick one of them who would become the next great Test batsman. The former Australian opener started off by naming three contenders before quickly making his top choice clear.
“I reckon there’s three in the run. Jaiswal, Brook and Ravindra from New Zealand. Well, I’m going with Jaiswal. At 24 years of age, he’s already scored a double hundred and averages just under 50. There’s something special about this kid. So I’ve got him down, Jaiswal, as the next champion batsman of the elite group. Look at him. Brilliant player. So that’s my pick, the young Indian,” Waugh said while speaking on Kayo Sports on the sidelines of the 5th Ashes Test between Australia and England in Sydney.
Watch the clip:
Vaughan goes the other way
Waugh makes a strong case for himself as Jaiswal brags of a solid record in less than three years of his Test career. With 2511 runs in 28 Tests, Jaiswal has captured world cricket’s attention. He has scored centuries in the testing conditions of England and Australia and has been remarkably consistent, converting two of his seven Test hundreds into double centuries.
But all that achievement wasn’t enough to convince former England captain Michael Vaughan, who picked Brook to carry that moniker. Brook, with 3052 runs from 34 Tests, boasts of an average in excess of 50, and while he hasn’t set the Ashes on fire, Vaughan expects all things glorious from the 26-year-old in future.
“Harry Brook is the next one that we’re going to be talking about. We’re already talking about him on this trip, the way that he’s played. He hasn’t got the amount of runs I would have expected, but over the course of the next 10 years, I think we are going to see some of the most extraordinary innings from this chap. He’s already played quite a bit in his young career; red-ball cricket, white-ball cricket. He’s an all-format player, and he’s box office,” pointed out Vaughan.
