In India cricket has been a metaphor for a religion and we have no hesitation in saying that. Cricket in India has been an abstract of heroism and crazy fan following for stars of Indian cricket. People in India have jumped in joy all those times India won and the nation has cried seeing tears in the eyes of their favorite stars.
Cricket in India is also marked by the stardom of great players like Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Virat Kohli and now MS Dhoni. The nation has celebrated these stars and has showered love upon them. Cricket is a crazy term in India and it is the sports which brings all classes and masses together.
But while cricket in India has been about heroism and great stars serving the nation, there were a few heroes which remained unsung despite wonderful acts of heroics.
Here we take a look at the top 4 unsung heroes of India.
Despite their heroics and contribution to Indian cricket, they could never become heroes as big as Kapil Dev or Virat Kohli.
1. Rahul Dravid
He best kept the repute of cricket as being a gentlemen’s game. Rahul Dravid was a true team player whose selflessness has contributed to team India’s fortunes. Yes, he is a popular and well renowned former cricketer but he was never celebrated like Sachin was or Kohli is.
Rahul Dravid has more than 10000 runs in both, tests and ODIs and he has been a unique character in himself, hence called ‘The Wall’ but he always deserved much more recognition and love for his contributions than he ever got.
2. Gautam Gambhir
It was Gautam Gambhir’s knock in the 2007 T20 World Cup finals which ascertained India’s win and then he did that again in the 2011 world cup final. While Sehwag and Sachin fell early he was the one who bravely laid down the foundation for India’s win.
But how many of us remember his heroics in these two world cup finals? Gautam Gambhir is yet another unsung hero of Indian cricket.
3. Harbhajan Singh
417 wickets in 103 test matches for India and 269 wickets in 236 One Day Internationals. Harbhajan Singh never got the glory which his numbers and contributions deserved. Harbhajan Singh got 5 wickets in an innings 25 times in 103 test matches which is unbelievable.
But sadly Bhajji never got his dues.He is one of the best spinners to have ever played for India and his economy for ODIs he played for India is just 4.3 but the turbanator never got the kind of recognition which he deserved.
4. Cheteshwar Pujara
While the world was arguing if Steve Smith is the best batsmen in test or Kohli, Pujara quietly scored 1140 runs with 4 Test centuries this year. But how many of us would call him a hero? Just like Rahul Dravid lost his limelight to Sachin Tendulkar, Pujara is losing it out to Kohli even though he has more test runs than Kohli this year.
