Yes. Yadav and Aaron are promising. They're both decidedly quick for their age. Talking them up as prospects for the next year is premature though.
Guess what, Varun Aaron has been named as a replacement for Ishant Sharma. I hope he doesn't end up like Munaf or VRV Singh. Very premature, as pitches in England become flat for ODIs, and most Indian bowlers are sitting ducks on flat decks. He'll need a lot more support than what he's likely to get- fancy an Indian bowler making his debut in a four-man attack in ODIs, with next to no support.
Mishra/Ojha/Kartik- I still believe Pragyan Ojha is still far from world class, let alone World #1 class. He's looked very average, pedestrian and flat, and only more sessions of domestic/touring reserve cricket will help him. Picking him in the Test team when he could have stayed with Surrey and learnt so much about playing in England has done more harm than good. He's largely very average, in comparison to fellow rushed-newcomer Ajantha Mendis, who's learnt the hard way that he has a lot more to cover before he's an international regular ahead of senior Rangana Herath.
While I push for Kartik at least as much as for Mishra, dropping Mishra when he's out of form is nothing but shambolic management. He's one of your best spinners, after Bhajji and MK, so you're supposed to get him up to top form when he's not in it. If you replace him with Ojha, and he's out of form later, you've just gone backwards. India's frontline spinners should have impressive strike rates, which isn't Ojha's forte at present. Nor is it Harbhajan's, it seems, so we're talking of dropping him. Actually, Indian spin isn't in such good shape, with Bhajji on notice, Kartik out of favour, Mishra a poor match or two away from being dropped and the others still very raw and underdone.
Six-seven-special-
Every team that's doing well has someone in the top six capable of bowling or wicketkeeping. It's often the one at six, as he has a lot less batting to do. The only exception is Australia, who could rule the roost with very strong bowling and a batting side that could race away to massive totals. SA have Kallis at three. Windies had Gayle at the top, like Lanka had Sanath. NZ had Cairns, then Styris and Oram. Lanka now have Matthews. England had Flintoff, and now the option of Prior. Pakistan had Razzaq/Afridi at their best. Teams that played four bowlers with no top-six support, like most Indian sides, the current NZ/Pak side as well as some Lankan sides, have struggled.
Even in this Indian side, nobody has made #6 his own. It's a thankless position. He's got little to do on a good day, and has to bail the team out often, like VVS Laxman. You can't expect it from newcomers like Raina or Pujara or Rahane or Rohit or what-have-you. They need to establish themselves first. Let them come to #4, earn that spot, and then they make it.
Four, five, seven-eight-nine-
A fifth bowler is crucial for India now. Look at how much overs they send down an innings, it's over 25, when it should be no more than 20, like their English counterparts. Not only do they lose their strike power later on, but they're also in line for injury- like it happened with Harbhajan, Praveen and Ishant. Too much bowling, too little support, so call in the fifth.
But for that, you need to stretch your batting a little. I'd say India's batting is much superior to its bowling, so they can (rather have to) take the risk- and risk cover comes in domestic bowlers who have good batting records. Ashwin, Praveen, Vinay, Mishra, Kartik, Joginder and by a long shot Pankaj Singh are capable, albeit limited, lower order contributors. Add their contributions and you have a strong tail. If bowling is a worry, look, those stragglers in the Test side are not better bowlers- they're poor tailenders.
Munaf Patel
We'll discuss his problems in that other thread I started, but to sum it up, I don't really see the point in persisting with someone who's played little FC cricket, was picked purely on pace, but has lost all of it and gets nothing to his place in the side, when Pankaj adds more to his place.
Yusuf Pathan
We'll throw this open to discussion here. He's got a phenomenal Ranji/Duleep record, especially in the last four seasons- far better than his IPL record, for which he's famous. While not tagged a batting or all-round hopeful, he's a top-six batsman for Baroda who can also get you wickets. He's the Gayle/Sanath/Matthews/Oram of this circuit. Yes, his technique is suspect, but the support staff can work on it- he's not infinitely worse than any Indian batting prospect- but makes his effort count. Give it a go.