India is a cricket-crazy nation. It is arguably the most popular sport in the country. There are millions of people who aspire to become a cricketer. Hence it is unsurprising to see the talent depth in Indian cricket. It is immense. There have been brilliant players who have toiled hard in first-class cricket but sadly they never managed to get the coveted Indian Test cap. let’s discuss Indian Players Who did not get chance in Test Cricket
Indian Players Who did not get chance in Test Cricket though they played 100 first-class matches:
#6 Abhishek Nayar
Abhishek Nayar was touted to be India’s best all-rounder option in the 2000s. He played a total of 3 ODI’s for India. Nayar was a big name in domestic circles. He kept piling runs year after year. Nayar was quite handy with the ball too. He played a total of 103 First class matches scoring 5749 runs @45.6. Nayar picked up 173 wickets as well. But he never got his due. It was rumoured that MS Dhoni didn’t approve of Nayar as an allrounder and hence he could never break into the team.
#5 Devendra Bundela
Devendra Bundela is a domestic veteran. He played a mammoth 164 first-class matches. Bundela ended up scoring 10,004 runs at 43.68. This MP batsman notched 23 centuries and 54 half-centuries. He had a really long domestic career that spanned across 3 decades. He made his debut in 1995/96 and sadly parted away from the game in 2017.
#4 Rajat Bhatia
Rajat Bhatia is a domestic workhorse. He was an underrated IPL star for KKR. Bhatia played a key role in KKR’s 2 title-winning campaigns in 3 years. He had earned his stripes the hard way. Bhatia grabbed an IPL contract thanks to his domestic exploits. He played 112 matches scoring 6482 runs and picked up 137 wickets. Bhatia made his last domestic appearance in January 2019.
#3 Ashoke Dinda
Ashoke Dinda contrary to popular perception was a fine red ball bowler. He tirelessly toiled on tough Indian wickets year after year just to be ignored royally after every season. Dinda bowled close to an unbelievable 4000 overs. He picked up 420 wickets and was the leading wicket-takers on many occasions. But unfortunately, he never got a chance to don the India cap.
#2 Yusuf Pathan
The hard-hitting allrounder, Yusuf Pathan is a 2-time World Cup winner (2007 & 2011). He in fact made his limited-overs T20I debut in the 2007 T20 World Cup finals. Pathan played quite an important role in the ODI’s and T20’s during India’s golden run from 2007-11. But the very fact that people considered Pathan to be a dasher worked against him playing in the whites. Pathan played exactly 100 FC games scoring 4834 runs @34.5. He even picked 201 wickets. He could have been quite a handful for India batting lower down the order especially in the subcontinent.
#1 Amol Muzumdar
Amol Muzumdar is possibly the best Indian batsman to have never played for India. Muzumdar was a domestic giant. His batting numbers in the domestic tournaments were Bradmanesque. He played a total of 171 first-class matches scoring 11167 runs @48.1. Muzumdar scored 30 centuries and 60 half-centuries. His cricketing career coincided with the peak of Indian Fab 4. His story remains one of the saddest and unluckiest in Indian cricket.
Also read: “Psychologically Draw is a Big Boost” – Mithali Raj
