Have you ever thought about any unlucky cricketers of India? Cricket is the most loved game in India, and there is massive competition in this field to choose a career. Getting a place in the Indian national team is seems like a lifetime achievement because this game has that much popularity in India. But some of the talented cricketers don’t get enough chances to prove them. Having tons of talent and passion for the game still doesn’t make them legendary cricketers. So in this article, we will know about five famous unlucky cricketers of India.
5 Famous Unlucky Cricketers Of India
5. Wasim Jaffer
The exceptional batsman from Mumbai is known as the Legend of Domestic Cricket. He played 186 first-class matches for Mumbai and scored 14609 runs, the highest runs scored by a batsman in domestic cricket. He also scored 46 centuries in his first-class career with an average of 53.70.
Wasim Jaffer made his debut for India in 2000, played 31 Test matches, and scored 1944 runs at an average of 34.11. So at the time, it was a decent record. However, the team is in a rough patch at the time Jaffer is playing for India. With that, Jaffer ran out of opportunities. He succumbed to his place in the team due to the frequent rotation of players. His international career ended due to his bad luck while he consistently scored runs with his incredible batting technique. Wasim Jaffer is referred to as one of the most unlucky cricketers of India.
4. Irfan Pathan
We don’t require any introduction about this pace all-rounder. He took a hat-trick of wickets in the first over of a Test match against Pakistan, hovering a successful record. The 23-year-old Pathan got the name of junior Kapil Dev, who has excelled in all three formats. But misfortune haunted him in the form of Greg Chappell. Because after Chappell became Team India coach, he forced Irfan Pathan to become a genuine all-rounder.
He bound Pathan to concentrate more on his batting than his bowling. With that, Pathan struggled to maintain both equally. He also lost his place in the team. Present his age is 36 years, and he played his last international match in 2012. It means his career ended at the age of 27. However, Pathan has made a name for himself by playing 173 international matches. So he proved himself with his talent, but Pathan lost his place in the team at a young age because of his bad luck. Otherwise, he would have made himself the number one all-rounder for the Indian team. Irfan Pathan is one of the most unlucky cricketers of India.
3. Dinesh Karthik
As the name suggests, the Nidahas Trophy final match is exhibited in front of everyone’s eyes. He came to bat when India was in an utterly hopeless situation and played a blinder of knock. Karthik excelled in domestic cricket and made a good name. But he did not enhance a permanent member of the Indian cricket team. The indirect reason is MS Dhoni because the two wicket-keeper batsmen made their debut for India at the same time. Also, the two have gained a reputation as good wicket keepers.
However, Dinesh Karthik’s debut as an opener at the time became a curse for him. Because India already has top-order batsmen like Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, and Virender Sehwag. He didn’t possess many chances. On the other hand, Dhoni served as a middle-order player to India for almost 15 years as a wicket-keeper batsman and captain. Dinesh Karthik always remains the second-choice wicket-keeper in his entire career. With tons of talent, Dinesh Karthik remained one of the most unlucky cricketers of India.
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2. Karun Nair
In 2016, Karun Nair scored a triple century against England and became the second batsman in the history of Indian cricket to accomplish this feat after Virender Sehwag. However, bad luck haunted him. After scoring a triple century, he didn’t get a place in India’s playing XI in the next match. Generally, a batsman score a half-century, that player will be a little brave enough to have a place in the team for the next match. But Nair, who hit a triple century alone, didn’t get a place in playing XI. Probably we have never seen such type of incidents in cricket history.
Nair was mentally disabled by the lack of a proper guarantee for his place in the team. A few days later, he played three test matches but didn’t perform well. With a Test average of 62, he hasn’t gotten a chance to play for India again. It is complicated for him to get a spot in the Indian cricket team in the present situation. With so much talent and constant lousy luck, Nair doesn’t have promising opportunities to play for India again. He was one of the unlucky cricketers of India.
1. Ambati Rayudu
Probably he was the most unlucky cricketer of India. I can assume that Ambati Rayudu was dragged down on determination rather than being called bad luck. Everyone knows about his batting ability. He gave numerous thrilling victories to the Mumbai Indians team. However, his dream of playing in the World Cup remained a dream. Rayudu struggled for a spot in Team India, held frequently criticized for switching state boards. He also learned wicket-keeping and eventually earned a place in the team.
However, Rayudu always had limited opportunities with that his cricket career has lots of ups and downs. Finally, he excelled before the 2019 World Cup and came close to his dream. But Rayudu was dropped from the team at the last minute because selectors wanted a three-dimensional player. However, the players were injured during the World Cup. Still, selectors didn’t include him in the squad, who was already a standby player. With this, he sadly said goodbye to international cricket. India lost a talented player like Rayudu eventually lost in that World Cup semifinal. Also, his dream was shattered.