The 2010-19 decade saw the brilliant rise of Indian cricket. They won the World Cup in 2011, Champions Trophy in 2013, and apart from the 2012 T20 World Cup, they qualified for the semi-finals of every ICC tournament. India also won the ICC test mace for five years. The players have taken the giant leap in international cricket. But there have been few players who received a raw deal despite performing well. Here are the 4 Indian players who won Man of the Match award but never got to play again in that format.
StumpsandBails looks at 4 such Indian players who weren’t considered for the next game in the same format despite winning the ‘Man of the Match’ award:
#4 Subramaniam Badrinath
4 Indian players who won Man of the Match award but never got to play again in that format. Subramaniam Badrinath was labelled a Test specialist even before he started his International career. Badrinath was the cornerstone of CSK’s batting in the dream run from 2008-13. He holds the feat of winning the Man of the Match award in the only T20 international he played for the country. But strangely, Badrinath never played a T20 again for the country.
#3 Pragyan Ojha
Pragyan Ojha was India’s preferred left-arm spinner before Ravindra Jadeja broke into the scene. Ojha formed a nice combination with Ravichandran Ashwin. He was especially good in home conditions. Ojha picked up 113 wickets at an average of 30.27 in 24 Tests with seven 5-wicket hauls to his credit.
He played 20 of his 24 Test matches at home and picked up 101 wickets. Ojha put in a match-winning performance picking up 10 wickets in the match against Windies at Mumbai in 2013. But post that match he completely fell off the radar and Jadeja leapfrogged him.
#2 Amit Mishra
Amit Mishra has staggering figures in ODI cricket. He has 64 wickets in 36 ODI matches. Mishra was simply sensational in the ODI series against New Zealand in 2016. He picked up 15 wickets in 5 matches at an average of 14.33. In the final game that was incidentally the decider, Mishra picked up a 5-wicket haul. He was awarded the Man of the Match and the Man of the Series for his outstanding performance. But despite this, he never played a single ODI after the series.
#1 Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan’s career has been an enigma. He burst onto the scene with natural talent. Pathan put in match-winning performances consistently. He was an asset with both bat and the ball. But he was dropped for strange reasons. He made a solid comeback to the team and put in a string of great performances. But his story ended in a similar fashion as to others in the list.
Pathan last played an ODI for India against Sri Lanka in the year 2012. He had scored 29 runs batting first and stayed unbeaten. Pathan picked up five wickets with the ball and was rightly awarded the Man of the Match. But unfortunately, he never played an ODI again.
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