Suburban
Zimbabwe’s fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani has been chosen among the 11 Under 25 cricketers destined for great things in the next decade, in a massive endorsement of the rising star.
Sreshth Shah
The best 11 were chosen by espncricinfo.com’s panelists which the publication selected for the task. The panelists were Raunak Kapoor, Alan Gardner, and Danyal Rasool who were tasked to select a Dream Test Team circa 2031. The only criterion? The players should all be under 25 as of May 20, 2021.
And Muzarabani made the cut confirming his status as a budding talent for the future.
Muzarabani is armed with natural pace and bounce and is regarded as one of the best fast bowling talents to emerge from Zimbabwe in the last decade. He has a gift of height and delivers the ball at a height greater than Morne Morkel.
He is often being termed as a replica of Kagiso Rabada in the Zimbabwean domestic circuit and if his first couple of years in the international cricket are anywhere close to Kagiso Rabada’s then Zimbabwe cricket will be served excellently. He has all the raw materials to become one of the finest fast bowlers Zimbabwe has ever produced, cricbuzz.com reported when profiling Muzarabani.
In ten years, when Kane Williamson has retired to become a surfer, Steve Smith a folk singer, and Virat Kohli the star of an eight-season documentary on his life, who are the players who might be bossing Test cricket?
The openers debate
The list of prospects is long but only two spots are available. India have Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw. New Zealand have Test-squad breakout Rachin Ravindra and future superstar Finn Allen.
In county cricket, James Bracey has been making heads turn and Haseeb Hameed has found his hands after a few poor seasons. And down under there’s young Will Pucovski, who has already been heralded as the next great Aussie Test sensation. Which two make the cut?
A middle order to envy
In first-class cricket, England’s Ollie Pope averages over 52 and Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka nearly 65. Zak Crawley has a Test best of 257. Sam Curran was Player of the Series in his debut Test outing against India.
Washington Sundar has shown how to get on top of Australia’s fast bowlers. Rishabh Pant is a superstar already. Then there’s Australia’s Cameron Green and South African Raynard van Tonder to consider.
Eight great options, a few of them allrounders — which five make the XI?
The fast-bowling superstars
While the names of Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan, Bangladesh’s Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Sri Lanka’s Lasith Embuldeniya were thrown in the ring for the spinner’s spot, our panelists perked up when it came time to discuss the fast-bowling stars of the future. With Green, Curran and Wiaan Mulder in the mix, who will the out-and-out quicks in this XI be? Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi was a unanimous choice, but can his countryman Naseem Shah maintain his pace as the years roll on? Then there’s South Africa’s Gerald Coetzee, one of the players expected to dominate the next decade and Zimbabwe’s line-and-length specialist Blessing Muzarabani. Eventually the panel went for a mix of speed and accuracy to close out what looks like a devastating XI for the future. — espncricinfo.com/cricbuzz.com
