6 Indian cricketers who did not get enough chances under MS Dhoni

1. Irfan Pathan

This is arguably the biggest name that could not get a fairytale push under MS Dhoni’s captaincy. A 19-year-old Irfan Pathan had put everyone on notice having clean bowled Adam Gilchrist in the Adelaide Test match in December 2003. From there on he was touted as the ‘Next Big Thing’ in Indian cricket and succeeded in earning the trust and respect of then captains Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid.

He was even a part of some of India’s biggest triumphs under MS Dhoni including the 2007 T20 World Cup and the Commonwealth Bank tri-series in Australia in the 2007/08 season. However, from early 2009 onwards, Irfan was in and out of the Indian team which eventually forced him to miss the memorable 2011 World Cup.

While he did make a comeback in the following year, he could not survive the cut-throat competition in the Indian team during the transitional phase and was no longer in the playing XI after 2012. Even though the Baroda cricketer was included in India’s 2013 ICC Champions Trophy squad in England & Wales, he did not get a single game and was slowly shown the exit door from the national team after that.