In a non-surprising turn of events, the top order’s performance of the Indian cricket team has been…quite interesting, to put it subtly. Ranging from the much-needed exclusion of ‘Selectors’ Favorite’, KL Rahul to Jisshu winning the ‘Best Batsman’ award for his spectacular innings in the Celebrity Cricket League, honestly got us thinking- What if we were to replace the ‘extraordinary’ players with the rising stars of Celebrity Cricket League. 

For those who don’t know, the Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) is an amateur men’s cricket league in India. It is made up of eight teams of actors from eight major regional Indian film studios. In 2011, the league was established. Since 2011, Salman Khan has served as the Celebrity Cricket League’s brand ambassador for all seasons. The CCL teams play their home games at a variety of venues, which are extensively covered in Indian media.

The CCL, which has franchises in major Indian cities, was inspired by the Indian Premier League’s popularity. CCL’s founder and managing director is Hyderabad-based entrepreneur Vishnu Vardhan Induri. In 2010, he launched the league by acquiring the franchise rights to four teams for the inaugural season.

Now, we take our chances at improvement changes pretty seriously, so here’s a potential list of replacements, that we think would fit our “Indian Stars”- 

1.  KL Rahul with Manoj Tiwari (Bhojpuri Dabangs)

The first player on this list is KL Rahul. KL Rahul hasn’t had a great year overall, even though the right-handed batsman has hit some good runs this year. KL Rahul played 26 games in 2022 across all three formats and held an average of just 28.57.

In ODIs, he arrived at the midpoint of only 32.71 in 8 Tests with 2 half-centuries. He only managed to score 80 runs in two Test matches. In 2022, he scored 434 runs in 16 games and averaged 28.93 in T20Is. As a result, he did not achieve a 35-plus average in any format this year, which puts him far behind his potential.

Considering KL Rahul has been deemed to be the ‘selectors’ favorite’ by fans for quite some time, we think Manoj Tiwari can be a good replacement. No, no, this isn’t a random assumption! The multi-talented and famous singer and BJP MP had recently led his team Bhojpuri Dabangs to a thrilling win against Sonu Sood’s Punjab De Sher by 25 runs. Who knows, the Selectors may gain a new favorite too!

2. Cheteshwar Pujara with Vikranth (Chennai Rhinos)

Another participant on this list is Chetshwar Pujara. Pujara is a specialist batsman for Tests. This year, he played in three Test matches but only managed to score 187 runs in six innings at an average of 31.16. In spite of the fact that Pujara hit 2 half-centuries, he failed to come up with a century.

As a Test specialist batsman, Pujara is anticipated to produce outstanding performances in the longest format. However, his batting average in the 30s this year was largely unsuccessful.

Vikrant has a strike rate of 154.95 with an average of 70.5 and in the latest tweet by CCL, he has been deemed “the true hero” while he was out there in the middle, playing with a hamstring tear. You’d tell us it’s not much, but at least Vikrant has a century in his bag.

3. Shreyas Iyer with Uattam Tiwari (Bhojpuri Dabanggs)

Since 2023, Indian middle-order batter Iyer has struggled with injuries. He missed the three-match ODI series against New Zealand due to a back physical issue. He will not play in the first Test against Australia because of a similar injury. He has played seven Tests for India so far, scoring 624 runs in 12 innings at an average of 56.73. ESPNCricinfo reports that Iyer has been instructed to spend more time in rehab by officials at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

Given that Iyer is just so prone to injuries, we think it’s best to let him rest and be replaced and we think Uattam Tiwari would be a great fit! Yes, we know that Iyer still has better numbers than the rest, but Bhojpuri Dabanggs’ Tiwari has a strike rate of 170.00 and an average of 102.0. With all humor intact, we think Tiwari might as well fill the gap left by Iyer’s injuries.

4. Virat Kohli with Raja Bherwani (Mumbai heroes)

Team India requires a batter who can start at number three due to the increasing frequency of former captain Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s absences from the shorter format of the game. 

Virat’s dry spell had put everyone in major concern and his comeback albeit short had lifted spirits but looks like our Kohli is gradually diving back into the deep end, yet again.

So in his absence opened up yet another chance for replacement and Raja Bherwani of Mumbai Heroes might be able to keep up with his average of 118.0. 

In the recent match against Australia, Virat got off to a strong start and appeared fully prepared to lead India.

However, Australia’s Matthew Kuhnemann caught him LBW while he was batting on 13. Kohli attempted a pull shot on a delivery that skidded but completely missed the line. Despite the fervent celebrations of the Australian players, he declined the review.

Although Kohli’s numbers in short formats are arguably good, his long formats are quite concerning and we think, selectors should look the other way to save us from any more upcoming heartaches. 

5. Jasprit Bumrah with Bobby Deol

Despite Jasprit Bumrah’s occasional good performance, the fast bowler is too fast to defeat injuries, as we have almost lost count of how many matches he had to miss because of it. Bumrah’s highest speed to be recorded so far stands at 153.36 kph. Starting from a thumb injury in 2018 to a back injury in 2022, Bumrah’s injury streaks are significantly higher than his bowling ones. 

We (and other twitteratis) can think of a wonderful replacement- Bollywood star Bobby Deol. His recent performances with the ball have absolutely convinced us that Bumrah can finally get the rest he needs to properly heal all injuries he has sustained. 

Don’t get us wrong, we love Bumrah, we just feel the poor lad needs to heal and who better than Lord Bobby Deol to save the day?