It is just very hard for any player to get a Test cap for India, given the vast pool of players the country has, with legends usually dominating each position, from top to bottom in a playing XI. But the ongoing IND vs ENG series seems to be an exception to the norm, where not one, but five players played their firsts for Team India. On Thursday, it was the turn of Devdutt Padikkal, who got his India cap in the Dharamshala Test.
All the debuts in the series for India have come only post Hyderabad Test, that the hosts lost by 28 runs. Come the second Test in Vizag, it was turn for wicket-keeper batsman Rajat Patidar to play his first for the team, replacing an injured KL Rahul. Patidar went on to score 32 in the first innings.
Then in the third, with Shreyas Iyer pulling out due to an injury, and KL Rahul still not fit, it was Dhruv Jurel and Safaraz Khan, who made their debut. Sarfaraz, in fact was mighty impressive with this twin fifties in the match. Lastly, the previous Test in Ranchi saw pacer Akash Deep make his Team India debut, where he went on to rattle the English batters with his three wickets in the first innings. Of course, Jurel had emerged a star in that encounter, with his fighting 90 & 39.
Happed in 2020 vs Australia & in 1996 vs England
Having said that, this is not the only instance where so many debutants have featured for Team India in a series. Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj played their first matches at the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Then in Sydney Test, pacer Navdeep Saini was given a chance. And then in Brisbane, the likes of T Natarajan and Washington Sundar were included in the team.
Prior to this, six debuts were handed out in the 1996 tour of England. The first-timers were Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Paras Mhambrey, Vikram Rathour, Sunil Joshi, and Venkatesh Prasad.
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