8 Indian Cricketers who could have been great prospect but overlooked by selectors

Representing the country at the international level in cricket is the biggest achievement a cricketer dreams of in his life. But only a few individuals are fortunate and blessed to reach this level of the game and many players go in vain exhausting themselves in domestic and First Class cricket.

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Whereas, there are also the cricketers who get a break at international cricket and represent the national side of their country. But due to either of the reasons, they, unfortunately, can’t be the favorites in the eyes of selectors despite their brilliant performances on the given opportunities.

With said that, here we’ll have a look at 8 Indian cricketers who made it to the international debut but couldn’t be more fortunate to stay in the action for a long time.

Karun Nair

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The 31-year-old middle order batter Karun Nair appears for Karnataka in the Indian domestic circuit. He made his debut for the national side of India almost six years back in the year 2016 during the Mohali Test against England.

Notably, Nair is only the second Indian batter after former blistering opener Virender Sehwag to smash a triple ton in Test cricket. But it seemed that this triple ton didn’t go down well with the Indian selectors and they didn’t give more than 6 Tests and 2 ODIs to Karun Nair. It can be said that a great prospect got wasted without giving any specific reason.

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Manoj Tiwary

For Manoj Tiwary, it would not be an exaggeration to say that he is a cricketer-turned-politician whose cricketing career succumbed to the politics of cricket in India. The prolific Bengal batter had a decorated First Class and List-A career to his name. Tiwary scored 9763 First Class runs and 5581 List-A runs with averages of 49.06 and 42.28 respectively.

But still, it couldn’t be enough to cement his place in the national side of India for more than 12 matches and 3 T20Is. Tiwary also scored an ODI century and a half-century while he wore the Indian colors. Currently, the 37-year-old is MLA and sports minister in the incumbent TMC government of West Bengal.

Barinder Sran

The amazing pace bowling prospect from Sirsa, Barinder Sran made his first international appearance for India seven years back in the year 2016 during the Perth ODI against Australia. Sran could feature only in six ODIs for India and scalped seven wickets with a decent economy rate of 5.34.

Other than this, he still owns the record for the best T20I debut as an Indian bowler but it was not enough for the selectors to pick Barinder just after the two T20I matches he got to play.

Ambati Rayudu

Whenever it comes to discussing the name of Ambati Rayudu in Indian cricket, nobody can disassociate him from the infamous controversy that took place at the time ODI World Cup 2019. It all happened when the Indian Cricket Board opted to go with south zone’s Vijay Shankar instead of Ambati Rayudu in the squad of India for the marquee tournament in England.

Later on, Rayudu happened to take a jibe at Indian Cricket Board’s selection choices with a tweet. The very tweet vanished the entire amazing stats of the Andhra Pradesh cricketer in 55 ODIs with 1694 runs on an average of 47.05. Since then, Rayudu hasn’t been seen in the Indian colors after he played his last international match on the 8^th of March 2019 in Ranchi ODI.

Amit Mishra

Amit Mishra is probably one of the most controversial retired cricketers in who keeps making it to the headlines of social media for his unusual comments and statements on the cricketing scenario of India and Pakistan. But there were also times when Amit Mishra used to be a part of the national side of India.

The former Delhi leggie made his first international appearance for India almost 20 years back in the year 2003. But it took 5 years for him to make a Test debut for India in 2008 during the Mohali Test against Australia. Although, he couldn’t sojourn for long at the highest level of the game and could play only 22 Tests and 36 ODIs for India.

Manish Pandey

Whenever the wasted talents would be discussed in the history of Indian cricket. Nainital’s Manish Pandey will be one of the top names. The very guy who averaged 44.31 in the T20I couldn’t get to play more than 39 matches in the shortest format of the game.

Apart from this, Pandey had also decent numbers in ODI cricket as registered a fair enough average of 33.29 with a century and two half-centuries in 29 50-over appearances. The century he scored in the ODI cricket came in the Sydney ODI against Australia at a time when the men in blue needed it the most.

Subramaniam Badrinath

The orthodox middle-order batter from Chennai, Subramaniam Badrinath was dubbed as a brilliant prospect for India in Test cricket. Although he showed his heroics in only T20I he played for India in his very small international cricketing career.

Badrinath ended up being the ‘player of the match in the T20I encounter he played against West Indies at Port of Spain almost 12 years back in the year 2011. But it was the only appearance for him in the shortest format of the game. Other than this, the 42-year-old could get only 2 Tests and 7 ODIs to play for India at the highest level of the game.

Parvez Rasool

Turning the clock nine years from now, the Indian team under the captaincy of former all-rounder Suresh Raina toured Bangladesh for three-match ODI series. The one name in the squad that attracted the eyeballs of the cricketing fans was none other than Parvez Rasool, the off-spinner and a bowling all-rounder from the then-J&K.

Rasool scalped two wickets in his first appearance during the Mirpur ODI against Bangladesh. But it took the next three and a half years for him to wear the Indian colors again and that too for the Only T20I match. This only T20I appearance for India probably happened to be the swan song of Rasool’s international cricketing career.