Cricket is a gentlemen’s game and it requires consistency to survive at the international level. You need a bit of luck too in order to get position yourself as an accomplished cricketer. Continues hard work and patience is always needed to perform at an international level. You ask me a question is luck defines your career? But to be frank and to be an honest little bit of luck too plays a role in defining your career at international level but in the end your performance matters. Consistent performance is the key to succeed at international level.
For instance, Rohit Sharma struggled to find a regular place when he played at middle order. He has been in and out of the team for a long time. Indian captain sensed there is an opener in him and he promoted Rohit Sharma up the order. There comes the miracle he scored three double centuries after that and now he is a wise captain of Indian team. At the same time, you have to feel for Mayank Agarwal, he is scoring tons of runs in domestic cricket but find it hard earn an ODI cap due to the established openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma performing exceptionally well and another senior opener is also warming in benches it made the life hard for Mayank. So luck to play a role in defining your career at international level.
Some of the batsmen in cricket who looked promising while the beginning of their career but faded away due to inconsistent performance. Here are the lists of those players.
#1 Wasim Jaffer
The Mumbai stalwart is highly regarded as another Rahul Dravid during the initial stages of his career. Ironically Wasim Jaffer made his test debut against South Africa in 2001 and also he played his last test against them in 2006. He is the consistent performer in the domestic circuit and he is one of the greatest products of Mumbai school batting scored more than 18,000 runs in domestic cricket. He continues to play for Vidarbha these days but he could not repeat his domestic performance in the international arena. His inconsistency made him in and out of the team but was completely faded away from international cricket after 2006. He enjoys the rich vein of form in Ranji Trophy and other domestic tournaments but due to the emergence of Gowtham Gambhir, he couldn’t able to find a place again in the Indian team.
#2 Praveen Amre
Touted as one of the big things in the 1990s another Mumbaikar Praveen Amre also scored 246 for rest of Indian against Bengal the highest score by any batsmen in Irani trophy. He started extremely well for India scoring half-century against South Africa on debut. He also becomes the 9th player to score a test century on debut and he achieved this against same South Africa at Durban.
Coached by Ramakant Achrekar once regarded as the best batsman than Sachin Tendulkar, Praveen Amre was fall out of the international scene due to injuries and lack of form. He played his last international match against Sri Lanka in 1994. He continued to play in domestic tournaments and officially retired from all forms of the cricket in 1999. He is one of the most successful coaches these days and currently serving as an assistant coach for Delhi Daredevils in Indian premier league.
#3 Subramaniam Badrinath
Highly regarded as “Mr. Dependable” Subramaniam Badrinath is known for his exploits in IPL for Chennai super kings and this Tamil Nadu batsman is a premier batsman in domestic circuits and scored loads of runs in every calendar year. The saddest part is he belongs to the era where the Indian trio Laxman, Dravid, and Sachin ruled the world cricket. India has the formidable line up during those days and continues to play extremely well during that time. So he was unable to crack into the international scene. Chennai super kings used him very well and he was the regular member for them till 2012. He made his ODI and test debut i9n 2008 and 2010 respectively. He scored a half-century on losing cause against South Africa on his debut but faded away with lack of opportunities and age factor also played a key role in dimishing his career.
#4 Robin Uthappa
Nicknamed as walking assassin Robin Uthappa made his ODI debut in the final match of England’s tour of India in 2006. He along with Rahul Dravid formed a formidable partnership and he went on to 86 runs, the highest by Indian batsmen on ODI debut. He played the key role in India’s triumph at the inaugural t20 world cup in 2007 and CB series in 2008.
He was also part of India’s most infamous campaign of 2007 one day world cup. Due to injury worries and fitness concerns he was in and out of the team for a while. He made his last international appearance in a t20 match against South Africa in 2012. He is the regular member of Karnataka Ranji trophy squad and is the vital cog in KKR’s batting lineup in Indian premier league. With the emergence of young guns, the chance for him to represent the country again is very minimal.
#5 Hemang Badani
The former Tamil Nadu opener is the known face of the early 2000s and his infamous stint with Indian cricket league. Hemang Badani will be remembered for his classical hundred against the mighty Australian team in 2001. The better field those days he along his Badrinath formed a better middle order during those days. Both continue to perform well for Tamil Nadu as the result of his consistent performance he got an ODI call-up in 2001 and subsequently faded away due to inconsistent performance. He played his last game against Pakistan in 2004 and formally announced his retirement in 2011.
Due to some misfortunes and bad luck these players got faded away from the international scene. It happens in every sport and it is a part of parcel of every game. The only thing we can do for them is wishing them all success in their future endeavors.
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