While some cricketers hit the limelight right at the very beginning of their careers, some others take a bit of time before they start getting their act together. However, once they hit their prime, they make up for all their failures in the early parts of their careers.
Here are the 4 cricketers who peaked late in their careers –
#1 Rohit Sharma:
Rohit Sharma made his debut for India in 2007 itself, but it was only when the former Indian captain MS Dhoni asked him to open the innings in the Champions Trophy in England in 2013 that he realized his true potential.
Rohit, since he has started opening the batting for India, has never looked back and is currently the best opener in the world in white ball cricket.
#2 Ishant Sharma:
Ishant Sharma is another bowler who might want to thank the former Indian captain MS Dhoni for the trust that he showed in him. There were certain points in Ishant’s Test career where he could have been dropped, but Dhoni backed him and Ishant is now spearheading the Indian attack in red ball cricket.
Ishant, in the last few years, has not only performed consistently in Test matches overseas, but he has done the same on flat pitches at home too.
#3 Marvan Atapattu:
Marvan Atapattu’s story is very, very interesting. He was a batsman who was known for his focus. He could bat for long hours and could play marathon knocks, but early on in his career, he scored a number of ducks.
Atapattu was actually dropped after low scores in the initial parts of his career. He went back to domestic cricket, scored heavily and came back to the national team. However, on his national comeback, he had low scores to his name again and he got dropped again.
But, Atapattu showed tremendous mental strength to make another comeback and this time around, he grabbed his opportunity with both hands. Atapattu went on to score a number of double hundreds for Sri Lanka in Test match cricket.
#4 VVS Laxman:
A few people would be very surprised to see VVS Laxman’s name in this list, but Laxman actually scored his first Test hundred in his 18th Test match.
Because of his inconsistency early on, Laxman was not able to establish himself in the Indian Test team straightaway. However he started playing some of his best cricket in the early 2000s and since then, he remained an integral part of India’s Test team till his retirement.
