Peter Handscomb

Hailing from Melbourne, Victoria, Handscomb was born to British parents. In his childhood days, he excelled in Tennis but he decided to pursue a career in cricket. He is a versatile middle-order batsman and is assured both against pace and spin. Debuting for Victoria in 2011-12, he made a good impression with a knock of 71 runs against Queensland at the Gabba. He also scored a brilliant 113 at the Adelaide Oval in the domestic circuit in 2012. At that time, Matthew Wade had got injured and so, Handscomb was given the responsibility to do wicket-keeping for his side. That landed him a contract with the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League. The talented young man has played county cricket for Gloucestershire in 2015 as well. In 2016, he got a taste of the Indian T20 league as he was picked up by Pune in the auctions.

Handscomb was selected in the Australian ODI squad that was touring England in 2015 but didn't play a match. Consistently churning up runs for Victoria for a period of time didn't go unnoticed and he was rewarded with a Test call-up in 2016-17. He made his debut against South Africa at Adelaide Oval in the third game of the series. A debut to remember, Handscomb stroked himself to a well-constructed fifty. He also scored the winning run for his country, something that he will always cherish.

After that, Pakistan were touring Australia in December 2016 and Handscomb notched up his form one step further. He scored a ton in his second Test match and scored another one later in the series, kicking off 2017 in style. When the Australian summer came to an end, Handscomb achieved a commendable record. In his first seven innings of Test cricket, he never departed below 50 and became the first player in Test history to do so. The team from Down Under then travelled to India in February 2017. An unbeaten 72 from Handscomb in the third Test in Ranchi was a testament to his potential. He combined with Shaun Marsh and kept the Indians at bay for a long time, thereby saving the match for his side. Handscomb proved his skills later in 2017 in Bangladesh as well. He scored a gutsy 82 in Chittagong in tricky conditions. With the kind of batting potential he has displayed in his short career so far, Australia will be hoping to benefit from his presence in the middle order.