For a cricketer, playing for his nation becomes the ultimate goal and no matter how rich a cricketer becomes, donning that national jersey is like paradise come true for any individual. However, there are times when even a few individuals manage to get themselves on the team list but fade away too soon.
There can be countless reasons for a cricketer fading away. However, the primary reason for the same is simple. You fail to perform and you are out of the hunt straightaway. Now for a few players, they still manage to get a push from the captain and on occasions, they click wherein there are a few where the captain or the selectors choose not to back them anymore.
Especially in the fabric of Indian cricket, there have been plenty of instances where the board or the captain has chosen to withdraw support from an individual cricketer and their international career went for a toss.
In this story, let us quickly take a look at five cricketers who could have got more support.
Robin Uthappa
If you remember the 2007 T20 World Cup semi-final, Uthappa played a crucial role in allowing Yuvraj to go for the blitzkrieg and yet somehow, after that the chances that came by for the hard-hitting batter were very limited.
In fact, he also played a crucial knock against England to usher India to a remarkable chase in a game where Yuvraj got hammered for 5 sixes in the final over by Dimitri Mascarenhas. He played his last T20 against Zimbabwe and post that India felt that maybe a separation would always be better instead of dragging a failed marriage.
Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan was probably one of the most complete swing bowlers that India ever produced. From ripping off Gilchrist with an absolute peach to helping India lift the 2007 T20 World Cup, Pathan could have been an absolute asset to the nation.
Sadly, Greg Chappell’s whims of trying to make him a batter cost him his career as he was torn between two decisions and neither the board nor the captain back then did anything to dissuade him of this whim.
Dinesh Karthik
Maybe, IPL 2022 has started showing a ray of hope for Dinesh Karthik, who may after all find a spot in the national team as the T20 World Cup approaches. However, it is still a far cry and for Karthik, his international career went up in flames playing the second fiddle to India’s first-choice wicket-keepers.
When he started his career, he played the back-up to MS Dhoni while after Dhoni stepped down from the mantle, he played the second choice to Rishabh Pant.
Ambati Rayudu
Rayudu is still a very talented cricketer and picks his opponents pretty decently in the IPL. Somehow it felt that BCCI was not really into him and opted for players who were well-versed in all-round abilities instead of being a pure batter.
You can’t really blame the selectors or the captain here because with every passing day as the game evolves, pure batters are becoming rare and if you are not a VK or a Rohit, you better have something to back up your batting with.
Amit Mishra
This would probably be a bigger mystery than the Bermuda Triangle is that why was Amit Mishra not successful to the same extent as that in the IPL. Somehow every single time, he donned the Indian jersey, he was running short of steam and there were hardly significant figures coming out.
Of course, there were a handful of decent performances but if you want to sustain yourself in the national circuit, you better start pulling the strings of extraordinary displays instead of a handful of decent showdowns.
