India A finished the ACC Emerging Men's Cup 2023 as runners-up to Pakistan A. Unlike some of the teams in the fray, India fielded a truly "emerging" squad, with none of the 15-member contingent capped at the senior level. With an average age below 21, it was also the only team to pick a relatively rookie squad in terms of List A experience.
More than the results - they won everything till the final - the tournament helped a number of players make their cases to be included in the wider talent pool of the national selectors. We have spoken about left-arm spinner Manav Suthar already. Here are five others who were consistent right through the tournament.
Nishant Sindhu
A 19-year-old left-arm spin-bowling allrounder, Sindhu has shown sparks of brilliance in domestic cricket in his short career so far. Upon elevation to the 'A' level, he showed thrift and guile in a clutch performance in the semi-final against Bangladesh A.
Cruising at 94 for 1 in a chase of 212, Bangladesh stumbled the moment Sindhu came on. Runs dried up, pressure led to a succession of bad shots, and Bangladesh were quickly bowled out for 160 with Sindhu taking 5 for 20. His 11 wickets in the tournament, the most across teams, came at an average of 11.81 and economy of 3.94.
An Under-19 World Cup winner in 2022, Sindhu was fast-tracked into Haryana's senior team but, across seven Ranji Trophy games in 2022-23, he picked up just 15 wickets. In ten innings, he bowled all of 110 overs, mostly because he played most of his games on seamer-friendly tracks, especially in Lahli, where spinners are usually reduced to playing a holding role.
How Sindhu counters this challenge could dictate his progression as a red-ball bowler.
His white-ball numbers were steady - five wickets in eight Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20s at an economy of 6.00 and four wickets in seven Vijay Hazare Trophy one-dayers at 4.35.
When playing for Haryana, Sindhu has largely played a support role, with Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra and Rahul Tewatia ahead of him in the queue. With the bat, he has proven to be an effective lower-order finisher - he recently scored a quick century in the Duleep Trophy game against North East Zone.
Sindhu is part of Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, but didn't play a game in 2023. However, he's been identified as a talent for the future and could have a bigger role going forward.
B Sai Sudharsan
Sai Sudharsan showed the importance of a tournament such as this for young players who are supremely talented but have failed, for whatever reason, to make the India Under-19 cut. His 221 runs in five innings as an opener came at a strike rate of 99.09, with the highlight an unbeaten 104 in the league fixture against Pakistan A.
Pleasing on the eye with punch in his strokes, 21-year-old Sai Sudharsan's batting has come in for special praise from several current and former players. The Tamil Nadu batter has also made a mark in the IPL for Gujarat Titans. Initially earmarked as a reserve batter, he capitalised on opportunities in Kane Williamson's absence, and his 362 runs in eight innings came at a strike rate of 141.40, a notch above his career strike rate of 129.
In the IPL 2023 final, he top-scored with a dazzling 96 against Chennai Super Kings, the team whose youth programmes he was a part of at the Under-16 level.
Sudharsan has had a steady start to his first-class career, too, but bigger challenges await. His mode of dismissal in the final - top-edging a pull after being rushed into the stroke - was one of several instances that showed his short-ball game is still work in progress.
Rajvardhan Hangargekar
Seam-bowling allrounders in India are rare, and Hangargekar has so far shown enough promise with both in his nascent career to be that utility player who can lend balance to teams he plays for.
He finished the emerging tournament with ten wickets in four games; the 5 for 42 against Pakistan A in the league game being his List A best. In the final, too, Hangargekar returned in the death overs to dismiss the two set batters - century-maker Tayyab Tahir and Mubasir Khan.
Hangargekar, like Sindhu, was part of the victorious India Under-19 batch of 2022, but found his initiation into senior cricket tough. Under scrutiny for an age-fraud violation, Hangargekar sat out of the entire 2022 season for Chennai Super Kings, and only played sporadically this year.
However, he seems to have impressed the Super Kings team management enough in the limited time he has had, and is a project for the future, according to head coach Stephen Fleming. He brings pace, the ability to move the ball late, and marries it with slower variations and cutters that make him an extremely useful package in limited-overs cricket, both with the new ball and in the death overs. With the bat, he's got the reputation of being a big-hitter; opportunities to prove that though have been few - the one that stood out was when, in a Vijay Hazare game last season, he hit a six Maharashtra needed off the last ball to clinch a thriller against Bengal.
Harshit Rana
Another bowling allrounder, Rana was left frustrated last year, unable to get enough game time. Till, following Nitish Rana's recommendation, Kolkata Knight Riders watched him at a trial and were impressed enough to sign him at the IPL 2023 auction at his base price. It was a signing that didn't pay rich dividends immediately, but the franchise clearly has a talent worth investing in.
Rana is 21, but has raw pace that coaches can work with in his quest to become consistent. He can hit the deck hard and generate steep bounce on docile tracks, like at the Feroz Shah Kotla, where he's played his junior cricket. He can also crank it up over 140 clicks, like he did in the IPL.
Opening the bowling, Rana featured in every single game at the emerging tournament, picking up seven wickets in five matches. These aren't mind-blowing returns, but that he was picked here is a sign that the selectors see potential in him. And, only last month, playing for North Zone in the Duleep Trophy, Rana showed glimpses of his batting chops with a blistering hundred, his first in first-class cricket, against North-East Zone.
Abhishek Sharma
Abhishek belongs to that rare breed of top-order batters who are capable of delivering a fair chunk of overs regularly in limited-overs cricket. Having started off in the middle order, Abhishek has made a seamless transition to being an opener who scores runs consistently for Punjab. He would, however, want to become more consistent for Sunrisers Hyderabad, his IPL franchise, for whom he scored just 226 runs in 11 innings, with two half-centuries this season.
Abhishek, much like his India Under-19 teammate Shubman Gill, was earmarked as one for the future. That was in 2018. While it has taken a while for him to move up the ranks, Abhishek's utility and consistency makes him valuable.
With the bat, he's a clean striker of the ball and has a solid game against both pace and spin. At the emerging tournament, he was the third-highest run-scorer with 221 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 98.22. This included a composed 61 in the final, where he was the lone bright spark for India.