5 Unlucky cricketers who never played for India

Representing your nation is a dream for every cricketer. The ultimate goal of every cricketer is to shine for his country, let alone a ardent cricket-loving nation like India where every kid dreams of playing at the highest level. Playing international cricket, however, isn’t as easy as one thinks.

A player should have a good domestic record and play consistently to impress the selectors. Despite having phenomenal domestic records there have been many unlucky Indian cricketers who never got the chance to play for the country. Competition is too much in India and many talented players remained domestic legends unfortunately forever.

Today we shall take a look at 5 such unlucky cricketers who never played for India:

5. Sridharan Sharath

Sridharan Sharath is one of the greatest batsmen to have played for Tamil Nadu. He scored 8,700 first class runs for Tamil Nadu from 139 games at an average of 51.17.

As of now, he is the only Ranji player to have played 100+ Ranji games and still finish with an average of more than 50. But a motorcycle accident in 1993 didn’t help his cause. This accident ensured that he never got the chance to play for India.

It was an absolute shame that a player like him never got the chance to play international cricket. Nevertheless, he is still widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of Ranji Trophy.

4. Padmakar Shivalkar

Padmakar Shivalkar was a nightmare for many opposition Ranji batsmen. His record in Ranji Trophy is phenomenal. An important point to be noted is that he played more than 25 seasons for one of the best Ranji teams (Mumbai).

He took 589 wickets in 124 matches at an average of 19.69, but he never got a chance to feature in the Indian team. The fact that he played for Mumbai for so many years itself proves that he was unfortunate not to have made his international debut.

In a place like India where spinners perform so well, Padmakar would have been an asset to the team in the international arena. He will always be remembered as one one of the most unluckiest spinners of all time.

3. Rajinder Goel

Rajinder Goel holds the record of most wickets in Ranji Trophy with 637 scalps to his name. Sunil Gavaskar admitted that he dreaded facing the bowler who took more than 700 wickets in his first-class career but added that Bishan Singh Bedi was better overall.

Goel was one of the most unluckiest Indian cricketers as he was born in the era of India’s spin quartet. He used to pick wickets for fun in the domestic circuit. He’s still regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of Indian domestic cricket.

He was the perfect example of “Born in the wrong era”. If he was born in any other era he would have definitely played a lot of international matches for India. It was unfortunate that he never got a chance to represent the nation.

2. Mithun Manhas

Mithun Manhas is considered a legend in Delhi cricket. He even won the Ranji trophy for the state in 2008.  The former Delhi skipper has scored more than 8000 runs in Ranji trophy.

He was unlucky to be born in the same generation as Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. He has also featured in the IPL and has played for teams like Pune Warriors India and Chennai Super Kings.

If not for the stiff competition he would have definitely played for India and amassed a plethora of runs. Unfortunately, he couldn’t and worked as assistant coach of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL 2019.

1. Amol Muzumdar

It is safe to call Amol Muzumdar one of the most unluckiest Indian cricketers ever. Despite being such a consistent performer in the domestic arena, he never got a chance to play for India.

Very few people know that Amol Muzumdar was the next batsman in line when Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli put on the famous 661-run partnership in Harris Shield Trophy. Sadly for him, it was the sign of things to come as he had to keep waiting for a chance to play for his country.

The right-hander scored runs for fun in domestic cricket but he never got an opportunity due to the “fab four”. Muzumdar scored 11,671 runs in 171 matches with 30 first-class tons and is seen commentating mostly in the domestic matches now.