Cricket can be a ruthless sport where the smallest drop in a player’s form can result in their retirement. As younger, more eager players start to appear for the country, older ones are replaced and soon they are overlooked by the selectors.
Here is a list of 5 players who took over from others:
Shikhar Dhawan and Gautam Gambhir:
The roulette of spinning Delhi batsmen continued when Shikhar Dhawan made himself a mainstay of the Indian squad at the end of 2012. This meant that Gautam Gambhir, who was part of the setup for many years had to be dropped and he has found it hard to find a place back.
Gambhir was an important part of the Indian team, having won the country two major honours with his fantastic knocks in the finals of the World Cup and T20 in 2007. However, Dhawan was just too good and he proved it with a fantastic performance in the 2013 Champions Trophy.
Kedar Jadhav and Suresh Raina:
Kedar Jadhav started showing a lot of promise after he was slotted in to the team as a middle order batsman in the Zimbabwe tour. Soon, he showed his class in the England and New Zealand series which meant that Suresh Raina, who was a set middle order batsman, had to be dropped.
Jadhav is both a bowler and a batsman and is an excellent performer. Though Raina is better on the field, Jadhav’s performances in critical situations mean that he will continue holding his place.
Rohit Sharma and Virender Sehwag:
Rohit and Sehwag were never really competitors but that changed once he was moved up the order to open the batting. Soon, Sehwag was a liability as age had caught up with him. Rohit was fantastic up the order and is still the opener for the country.
Sehwag was soon dropped because he couldn’t contribute on the field and he never really made it back to the squad.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh:
Ashwin was a junior when he was drafted in to the Indian team as an off-spinner. At the time, Harbhajan Singh was still ruling but his powers were on the wane. Soon, Ashwin was putting in fantastic performances.
However, Ashwin’s performances were getting too much that he could warrant his own place in the squad. Soon, he displaced the Turbanator and has gone on to become a legend.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Zaheer Khan:
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has gone on to become one of the best players in the team with his incisive bowling but it had to come at Zaheer Khan’s cost. Zaheer, who was a superb performer for the country for many years had to call it quits after being injury plagued.
Zaheer was also not able to hit the high speeds he generally would be able to in his prime. Bhuvi had become one of the main bowlers of the team thanks to his superb in-swinging ability which meant it was Zaheer Khan’s end.
By Rohit Nair
