India’s history of having great batters is much richer than having great indian fast bowlers. The country has had only a few big names in the pace department who have left an imprint on the world cricket.
From Kapil Dev to Javagal Srinath to Zaheer Khan to Jasprit Bumrah. There have been only a handful of pacers who have had long and consistent careers.
Yet, there have also been some high-quality seamers who perhaps weren’t treated with as much care and respect as they deserved.
Here are 3 Indian fast bowlers who were disrespected by the management and board:

Ishant Sharma
In the WTC Final 2023 against Australia, as Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur, and later on Mohammed Shami as well, leaked runs and allowed the Australians to get on top of the Indian team, fans missed the control and discipline that Ishant Sharma offered to the bowling attack.
India had dropped Ishant Sharma in 2022 with the rise of Mohammed Siraj. However, the senior pro wasn’t recalled even when Jasprit Bumrah got injured. A veteran of 105 Test matches, Ishant Sharma, who picked up 311 wickets, which is the most for a proper Indian pacer, has been at his best in the last few years of his career and formed a great attack with Bumrah and Shami.
Yet, the way the 34-year-old was discarded from the Test team was hurtful. More so when older seamers like James Anderson and Stuart Broad get taken care of and get their dues from the England board and management, it was really disheartening to see how Ishant was excluded harshly from the setup and wasn’t recalled when India needed him.
Jaydev Unadkat
Having made his Test debut at the age of 19 in 2010, left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat would have hoped for having consistent chances and a good international career. However, little did he know that he won’t play another Test for 12 long years, despite toiling hard in domestic cricket and being overlooked in the Test team because of his poor IPL form.
Jaydev Unadkat has been arguably the best pacer of Indian domestic red-ball cricket in the past 3-4 seasons, and the selectors couldn’t ignore him anymore and his got his second Test match in 2022. He was in the squad for the WTC Final as well but Umesh got picked while fans believed Unadkat’s left-arm angle could have made a difference.
Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan is one of the few ex-Indian cricketers who have publicly expressed displeasure over being dropped from the team despite performing well and having a lot of experience. In his last ODI match for India, in 2012, Pathan dismissed the dangerous T Dilshan for a duck, and finished the match with a superb five-wicket haul, helping India script a tight 20-run win.
Pathan was part of the 2013 Champions Trophy squad but didn’t get to play a match in the tournament, and then was dropped by MS Dhoni and the selectors from the ODI side.
Pathan would go down as one of the few players in the history of ODI cricket to have not played a single match even after taking a five-for.