While some cricketers often take a bit of time to find their feet at the international level, some others burst onto the international scene with a lot of promise and put on match-winning performances at the very beginning, however, they don’t quite live up to the expectations as they go further in their careers.
Here are 5 cricketers who have disappointed their fans with their returns in international cricket so far –
Carlos Brathwaite
Carlos Brathwaite was identified as the next big thing in West Indies cricket when he guided the men in maroon to their second T20 World Cup title with four consecutive sixes at Eden Gardens in 2016.
However, he has not become the kind of batsmen everyone thought he would become. Brathwaite is still a clean and powerful striker of the ball, but his susceptibility against leg-spin has caused his downfall.
Darren Bravo
Darren Bravo was compared with the legend Brain Lara very early in his career because of his stroke-play.
Not only is Bravo very efficient square of the wicket on both sides against the fast bowlers, but he is also brilliant against spin as well, whether you talk about coming down the track to loft the spinners straight or rocking back and cutting them square.
However, Bravo’s problem is his inconsistency which is the reason why he is not a part of the West Indies squad in white-ball cricket at the moment.
James Neesham
James Neesham has got the power game to play the finisher’s role down the order in white-ball cricket for New Zealand and he has got decent seam bowling abilities as well. He is tall and can extract a bit extra off the surface by banging the length hard.
However, despite having the required skill-set, Neesham has not managed to take his game to the next level in the last couple of years and has been in and out of the New Zealand squad.
Mitchell Marsh
Mitchell Marsh’s journey in international cricket has also been a bit like James Neesham. He is not a hit-the-deck bowler like Neesham and relies more on his ability to nibble the ball a little bit both ways, but he can also strike the ball clean and hard.
Marsh has never been able to cement himself as a regular member of the Australian squad. He made a comeback earlier this year and will likely get a run again once the cricket resumes. However, this might be his last crack at international cricket.
Temba Bavuma
Temba Bavuma was rated very highly at the start of his international career. He is well organized and plays proper cricket shots, but he seems to lose his focus from time to time.
There have been occasions in the past where Bavuma was playing well, everything was coming out of the middle of the bat, and all of a sudden, he played a flashy stroke and lost his wicket.
Bavuma is still a part of South Africa’s set-up, however, if he doesn’t tighten himself and register some big scores to his name in the next few matches, he might lose his place.
