Unlucky Indian cricketers: According to the report, Saha is being considered for the home series against Sri Lanka by the Indian cricket management. This inspired us to list the ten most unfortunate Indian cricket players who could have achieved greater success if they had played in a different era. Whenever a highly skilled and courageous general was suggested to Napoleon, his first question would always be, “Is he lucky?”
In Indian cricket, the five-letter word “lucky” has gained some significance these days. India is a large country with 138 crore people, and two topics dominate the conversation: Bollywood and cricket. Nearly one crore young children are playing the game and aspiring to become professionals, if one were to walk through the country’s maidans.
Making it to the nation’s final eleven is one of the hardest tasks among these crore. While there is another group of people who put in all the effort and do all the necessary tasks, the four-letter word “luck” treats them cruelly, some cricket players are fortunate enough that their hard work has paid off and their dreams have come true.
Unlucky Indian cricketers ranked:
#1 Robin Uthappa:
Despite his prolific domestic and IPL run-scoring, Robin Uthappa was not fortunate enough to be an Indian team member for an extended period of time.
1230 runs were scored in his first 31 lists. On November 15, 2006, he earned his Indian ODI cap with a game average of 39. He opened the innings that day with a heroic 86 against a bowling attack that included James Anderson and Liam Plunkett.
With his score, India was able to surpass the 289 runs needed in just 3 wickets. a 70 against the West Indies came next, and he went on to have a great time touring England after the 2007 World Cup.
While pursuing 317 at The Oval, he proceeded to hit a scoop of Stuart Broad and play a walking shot that earned him the moniker “walking assassin.” Following that, he was a total failure in the 2008 Asia Cup and CB Series, which marked the beginning of his decline at the international level.
He was called back into the team again after having an outstanding domestic season, maintaining a 51+ batting average from 2011 to 2014, winning the IPL, and earning the orange cap in 2014. Against Bangladesh, he made a brilliant half-century during his comeback. But in the seven innings that followed, he never scored more than forty.
Given his numerous international setbacks and home run successes, he should have been included in the team. Furthermore, it never really helped him to secure a spot in the final eleven thanks to the presence of players like Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, and Virat Kohli in the middle and Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and Virat Kohli in the top order.
#2 Ambati Rayudu:
On April 15, 2019, a beautiful afternoon, the Indian team arrived in England for the 12th World Cup. The only oddity that occurred was that the selectors chose Vijay Shankar over Ambati Thirupati Rayudu because they were looking for a 3D prospect.
From 2018 to February 2019, he was the team’s fourth-highest run-scorer with 639 runs at an average of 42.60 when he was given regular opportunities. Nevertheless, he was really disappointed not to have been selected in the first fifteen. Moreover, Shikhar Dhawan was not contacted at all when he was hurt later on.
Since the beginning of his career in 2001–2002, Ambati Rayudu has been one of the most prolific players in domestic cricket, both in red ball and white ball formats. Particularly in white-ball, he has consistently maintained an average of fifty in numerous seasons following his 2002 century against Goa.
He performed admirably when touring England in 2003 with the A team, scoring a stunning century in red-ball format, a half-century in white-ball format, and so on. He did, however, drift away from Indian cricket’s mainstream after entering the rebel ICL competition. Rayudu made some significant runs in each season after returning in 2009 until 2013 when he was given the chance to don the Indian blue jersey.
Afterwards, he played well enough to be called up to the 2015 ODI World Cup squad, but sadly, he was not given a game. Despite his strong performance, he was left out of the World Cup squad for 2019 and made the decision to give up international cricket. The selection committee acted unfairly in Ambati Rayudu’s case by a wide margin.
#3 Parthiv Patel:
Despite wearing the Indian jersey for 31 test matches, the Gujarati wicketkeeper deserved to play in more games. In age group levels, Parthiv was exceptional both behind the stumps and with the bat in his early years. And for that, he was awarded India’s 244th Test cap against England in Nottingham.
In his first Test match, he used the bat to score a match-saving 19 in the second innings. Following that, he was a consistent member of the Indian test team until 2004. During that time, he played in 19 test matches and maintained a batting average of almost 32, scoring four half-centuries. After four years, he was given the chance to make his debut in the starting eleven against Colombo in 2008, but he was once more left off the roster.
Following his prolific scoring in domestic cricket, he was given another chance to play for the Indian side during the England tour, where he scored 195 runs in 4 innings, which seemed respectable. Additionally, Parthiv’s career wearing the Indian jersey was terminated by his subsequent failure in South Africa in 2018.
He captained the team in 2017 and amassed 1110 runs at an incredible average of 50.45 during that period, which assisted Gujarat in winning the Ranji Trophy! Parthiv’s career was, however, destroyed by the inclusion of Wriddhiman Saha and Mahendra Singh Dhoni as glovemen.
#4 Manoj Tiwary:
The former Bengals captain is frequently seen on this list. Beginning at the age group level, Manoj Tiwary won man of the match in his U-19 test debut against England while maintaining a 52 average in the Coachbehar Trophy and a 52.33 average in the MA Chidambaram Trophy.
Then, in the Ranji Trophy, he excelled in the tour matches in Australia in 2014 and set a record of 500 runs or more in every season from 2006–07 to 2019–20 with remarkable consistency. It’s unfortunate that he was still disregarded by the National side.
He is well-known for being left off the international roster following his incredible century against the West Indies in Chennai. Later, in 2012, he participated in the 2012 T20 World Cup but did not play in a single match. He scored 65 runs and claimed 4 wickets against Sri Lanka.
Following that, Tiwary’s access to National Side was terminated in 2015 due to a run of poor results against Zimbabwe. Unless he was among the unluckiest Indian cricket players, Tiwary might have had a lengthy career in the middle order.
A courageous junior batsman who had once gone out to take a lofted shot against Zaheer Khan in the Ranji final was dismissed after scoring 287 runs at an average of 26.09 from 12 ODI innings.
#5 Subramaniam Badrinath:
Badrinath, a Tamilnadu native, has scored many runs since making his debut. He represented three state teams—Tamilnadu, Vidarbha, and Hyderabad—in first-class cricket. Given the Indian first-class structure, his 56.99 first-class batting average for Tamilnadu is quite good. In the nine innings he has played for the India A team, Badrinath has also amassed a batting average of 213.
Badrinath established herself as a mainstay of the domestic circuit in 2005–2006. Over the course of seven straight seasons, Badrinath averaged 124.61. This resulted in his June 2010 international debut in Nagpur against South Africa. He made a good half-century on his debut, but he was unsuccessful in the next two innings.
He is one of the Indian cricket players who won man of the match in their first Twenty20 tournament. Later, Badrinath was unable to establish himself with the national team because of Virat Kohli and numerous other players.
#6 Laxmi Ratan Shukla:
Laxmi Ratan Shukla, a versatile bowler and hard-hitting batsman, would have been a key member of the Indian cricket team in the 2000s. India experimented with numerous all-rounders, all of whom were technically subpar to Shukla, even after that decade. He is still considered to be among the unluckiest Indian cricket players who had the potential to succeed in a different era.
Prominent for his hard-hitting and versatility, Shukla could bat at any position. When he struck a scorching 136 against Delhi in the 1999 Wills Trophy semifinal, he first caught the attention of the selectors. Delhi’s opponents included Ashish Nehra, Amit Bhandari, and Rahul Sanghvi. In the Orissa match, he also played a tennis shot against Debashis Mohanty, an Indian side player at the time.
Shukla received his ODI cap after participating in just eight List A games. But on his debut, he left no lasting impression. On his debut, he was outscored by Lankan batsmen, and in his last One-Day International, he took James Adams for his lone international wicket while recording his highest score of 13.
Shukla had a chance to make his debut in the 1999 Sri Lanka test, but Ashish Nehra was given the cap before him because the management had other ideas. At the age of just 18, he lost hope of playing for India due to his disregard, despite amassing 6217 runs and 172 wickets at the first-class level and 2997 runs and 143 wickets at the List-A level.
#7 Jalaj Saxena:
Jalaj Saxena is a quiet performer who is an excellent all-around player. He has batted at every position from opening to 7 or 8 for the Madhya Pradesh and Kerala state teams.
a capable all-around player with a batting average of 35 and a list Both a bowling average and the replacement of someone like Ravichandran Ashwin would have been wise additions to the team. Despite his steady performances, he was disregarded, which makes him one of the unluckiest Indian cricket players on the domestic scene.
#8 Vinay Kumar:
With 504 wickets to his name, Ranganath Vinay Kumar is among the most deserving players in Indian cricket history. He participated in one Puducherry season and nearly fifteen KSCA seasons.
He was a very skilled bowler who claimed two 50-wicket hauls and one 47-wicket haul in the Ranji Trophy. In the Indian domestic circuit, he, Abhimanyu Mithun, and Sreenath Arvind formed the most potent bowling attack. Following this excellent performance, he was offered the opportunity to play in his first Test match against Australia in Perth in 2011–12, but he was utterly unsuccessful despite getting Michael Hussey’s wicket.
Since Michael Hussey was never given the opportunity to play again in Indian Jersey, his wicket remains his only test wicket. Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah joined later and solidified their positions in the team.
#9 Ashok Dinda:
Ashok Dinda, a fiery fast bowler, gained notoriety in 2006–07 after playing brilliantly for the Bengal team. In the 2012 Nagpur test against England, he came very close to receiving a test cap. But, team management chose to start Ishant Sharma as a pacer and four spinners due to a turning track.
That season, Ashok Dinda took 59 wickets at a bowling average of 19, forcing the selectors to give him some thought. In both list A and T20 levels, he was a good bowler. He moved quickly and accurately, making batters uncomfortable. He was formerly referred to as one of India’s best death bowlers in T20 competitions, but in the latter part of his career, he became costly.
However, that doesn’t make it any less true that he ought to have played 20 tests and received more caps. He is regarded as one of the most unfortunate Indian cricket players to have never worn the white jersey for his country.
#10 Priyank Panchal:
The Gujarati boy has a triple hundred against Punjab, which includes pacers like Manpreet Gony, Sandeep Sharma, and Siddharth Kaul, and he has maintained a 45.52 batting average in first-class cricket. In the 2016–17 season, he amassed 1449 runs at an average of 80.
He went on to play with an average of 61.06 in the following two seasons, earning him a call-up to the India A team for the first time in the West Indies in 2019. Panchal played in 14 matches and three tours for the India A team, scoring 1089 runs at a batting average of 51.85 while also recording four centuries, including a double hundred.
He then received his first call-up to the national team for the South Africa tour of India in 2021–2022, but he was unable to play in any of the matches due to the availability of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal. He is currently 31 years old, so it will be difficult for him to play many tests in the upcoming years.
So, this was all about the list of the most unlucky Indian cricketers. Also read, CheckOut! Laziest cricketers of all time in cricket history
