Ranking top 10 male cricketers who always got overshadowed

Cricket can sometimes become a very unjustified game if you are pursuing this sport fervently. Often there will be numerous instances where you will eventually end up like a flint rather than steel regardless of how much ever good you are in terms of producing a spark.

Since it’s an utter team sport there will always be some other individuals who will be a tad better than you eventually grabbing all the credit and limelight. Over the years, some of the game’s greatest cricketers have repeatedly encountered some similar occurrences where they have been overshadowed by some legendary honoured ones.

Although every cricketer is great in his/her own rights, sometimes unfortunately there are a few bunches of players who never really get as much credit as they deserve.

Hence in this list, let’s rank some cricketers who always have got overshadowed

10. Shikhar Dhawan

There’s no doubt that the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and skipper Virat Kohli have been the formidable centre-pieces of Indian batting in ODI cricket. Ever since their impregnable triumph in the 2013 Champions Trophy, the above trio has also scored the most number of runs for Team India in ODIs.

In fact, the opening duo of Dhawan and Rohit has dwelled itself at the fourth position especially when it comes to the list of highest opening partnership runs in ODIs. However, unfortunately, if we have to pick the above trio in India’s all-time ODI XI then there are chances that Shikhar Dhawan might not even be considered in the reserves whereas both Rohit and Virat will primarily walk into the main XI.

Sadly, that’s how vigorously the world’s current two best batters have overshadowed Dhawan despite the southpaw also being team India’s best chief when it comes to the ICC tournaments. In fact, even when it comes to picking India’s all-time top 3-4 openers in ODIs, possibly Dhawan’s name might come secondary after the likes of Tendulkar, Ganguly, Sehwag and Rohit Sharma.

Overall, being as someone who has already amassed the fourth most number of centuries (17) for India in ODIs doesn’t seem to get enough accreditation for his performances. All in all, while the cricketer might not enjoy the same prominence which the likes of Rohit and Virat endure but in the end, Dhawan can at least be remembered for keeping his commendable average of 45 plus intact in ODIs.

9. Stuart MacGill

By making his career coincide with the legendary Shane Warne, unfortunately, MacGill had to subside himself while playing for Australia. Although he was an old hat who could remarkably bowl both the conventional leg-break and wrong’urn, Australia never seemed to have endorsed the two spinner theory unlike the days of Clarrie Grimmett and Bill O’Reilly.

In between the times when Shane Warne was banned in 2003-04, MacGill had delightfully scalped 53 wickets from his extensive stay of 11 Test matches. Perhaps his utter best was also well witnessed when while playing against the ICC World XI, the leg-spinner bulldozed 9 victims including a fifer in that Test match.

Overall, while the grandmaster Shane Warne had eventually scalped a profusion of 700 plus Test wickets, the overshadowed MacGill limitedly played 44 Test matches and picked a total of 208 wickets. Interestingly, by playing the most against West Indies, MacGill took a total of 60 wickets which is just 5 wickets less of what Warne has also entirely picked against them.

8. Ross Taylor

Ever since the year 2010, both Ross Taylor and skipper Kane Williamson have profoundly established themselves as the nucleus of NZ’s batting. Both of them have scored over 7000 plus runs in Tests and perhaps in total have the same rough number of centuries across formats. In fact, even in the T20Is both of them share a very shallow difference of runs being scored individually.

However, while the veteran Taylor had made his debut way back in 2006, he looks to have got overshadowed ever since Williamson has arrived. Especially with the pace at which the Kiwi skipper has amassed runs, surely he has made Taylor bag less limelight.

In fact by the time when the captaincy was up for grabs after McCullum’s departure, surely Williamson’s overshadowing effect could have resulted in a retreat from Taylor’s second captaincy stint especially considering that he was already at its prime.

Overall, while no doubt Williamson’s batting pedigree is from the club of legends, the veteran Taylor has also etched himself as once in a generation entity for NZ. Yet maybe years from now when NZ’s current golden era will get discussed, clearly Williamson’s towering eminence will gloom out Taylor’s accomplishments.

7. Hashim Amla

From the year 2004-05 onwards, South Africa had an outstanding team that later on had produced some utter legends. The skipper Graeme Smith himself could make a strong case for any Test XI of that era and perhaps also had many other such individuals who could meritoriously dwell themselves comfortably.

The likes of Steyn, Kallis and ABD could also further get propounded for an all-time XI but amidst this, someone like Hashim Amla, unfortunately, gets overshadowed without even being realized. By already being someone whose the 14th highest all-time run-scorer of the game (18,672) often feels to have got subsided whenever SA’s prominent players are talked upon.

In fact, despite being the third-highest run-scorer in the decade of 2010s in ODIs along with surpassing ABD in the same decade, Amla seems to receive a marginal of credit for his consistency.

Overall, in totality, it can be said that during the first half of his career, Amla was overshadowed by the likes of skipper Smith and the legendary Jacques Kallis, whereas someone like AB De Villiers did eventually tower his lofty presence at the fag end.

6. Morne Morkel

From the year 2008 onwards, South Africa had become an impregnable Test team that could beat anyone whether home or away. Their batting comprised of world-class legends like Graeme Smith, Amla, Kallis and ABD whereas in the bowling it was all about Dale Steyn and company. Perhaps with Steyn also being the number one ranked bowler of that time, he certainly did overshadow his tall, lanky fellow teammate Morne Morkel.

To sum up, how splendid Morkel was along with Steyn, the pacer was ranked in ICC’s top 10 bowlers in the world in all formats at some stage of his career. Especially when Steyn was the number one ranked bowler in Tests, Morkel was at the top in ODIs in 2011. And perhaps even when SA was crowned the Test Mace in 2012, Morkel had helped the team to defend it against Australia in Australia by emerging as the highest wicket-taker in that tour.

However, surprisingly despite being SA’s fifth-highest wicket-taker in Tests and overall the sixth all-time highest wicket-taker, Morkel seems to have got adequately subdued under Steyn’s hounding establishment.

5. Damien Martyn

Damien Martyn had entered the Australian team much before when the likes of Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist were about to make their debuts. The right-handed batsman had initially played in place of Dean Jones but unfortunately, till the year 1997-98 his establishment never got ascertained.

While the likes Ponting, Hayden and Gilchrist did went on concretely establish themselves immediately, Martyn’s career only went booming just about the 1998-99 period. However, then by being part of an indomitable team where earlier the likes of Steve Waugh and then the above of his peers used to dominate the batsmanship of that era, looks like Martyn was bound to get overshadowed.

Mostly though by being someone who was a textbook batter, Martyn was Australia’s best batsman especially when had they triumphed in Sri Lanka and India in the 2004 Test tours. Perhaps before his dream run in 2004, the cricketer was found refrained from not even winning a single MoM award despite averaging around 50 in Tests.

Nevertheless by then crafting a massive pile of 1608 runs at an average of 61 from March 2004 eventually brimmed Martyn with two Man of the Series prizes. Overall, although the cricketer certainly did not have the heaps of runs to boast much like his above peers, in the end, he truly was an unglorified hero who barely gets limelight during Australia’s unflinching run.

4. Mohammad Yousuf

Well if you are a Pakistani fan then the decade of the 2000s was much more blissful when it came to both bowling and batting. While earlier the team had witnessed some legendary batting names in regular intervals, the likes of Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Younis Khan collectively did revolutionize Pakistan’s middle-order batting.

Perhaps the above trio is also Pakistan’s all-time highest run-scorers across all formats but unfortunately, someone like Mohammad Yousuf does seem to get comprehensively overshadowed. Interestingly even when you’ll ask someone to name Pakistan’s top 2-3 legendary batters then there are chances that Yousuf’s name will become second only after mentioning the likes of Javed Miandad, Inzamam and Younis Khan.

Overall while Inzamam-ul-Haq had altogether embodied a very different pedigree of batsmanship, both Yousuf and Younis used to be on par whether it was the averages, centuries or other numbers. Both of them are also the two elusive of three individuals who had kept their Test batting average intact at or above 50 for Pakistan. But sadly Younis’s longevity seems to become more alluring than Mohammad Yousuf’s elegant presence.

3. Dilip Vengsarkar

When you ask Indian fans to name their favourite or best batters across generations then chances are names like CK Nayudu, Vijay Merchant, Sunil Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Dravid or maybe even now Kohli will pop up. Even ask them to name from pre-Tendulkar era then they’ll start from Nayudu and finish at Gavaskar or Mohinder Amarnath.

However in between them very rarely you will see someone calling out Dilip Vengsarkar considering that he was only second to Gavaskar when he had finished the game. In fact, much before Rahul Dravid, it was Vengsarkar who had fibrously upheld the consistent number 3 spot for well over a decade until his retirement in 1992.

Perhaps when the introduction of the ranking system had got coincided with his peak, undoubtedly Vengsarkar sat on the topmost position for a considerable period of time. In fact, in the time of the ’80s, the cricketer had scored more runs than any other Indian batter including Gavaskar.

Overall, regardless of being India’s vital cog much like Amarnath or Gavaskar for over a decade, this batting great often gets overshadowed both by the time and modestly by his batting peers.

2. Shivnarine Chanderpaul

Back in the day when Chanderpaul had made his debut in 1994, young Brain Lara’s flamboyance was all over the place that barely then made anything else look much more alluring. Both these above legends had formidably dwelled themselves as the centre-pieces of WI’s batting but Lara’s breathtaking stroke play would always hog most of the limelight than Chanderpaul’s crab-like approach.

Perhaps Chanderpaul’s unorthodox batting often made him look like a workhorse who was enduring a burden rather than Lara who would come out and soar. Much like Dravid who was gritty than Tendulkar who would hover, even Chanderpaul’s story comes up as very similar with regards to Lara.

No doubt when required the most, Chanderpaul could dust out any storm but the aesthetic batsmanship of Lara would any day cast a towering shadow on the southpaw’s prominence. Overall, despite churning out more than 20,000 runs for his team, Chanderpaul seemed to be much underrated than his skipper Brian Lara.

1. Rahul Dravid

Many believe that if Rahul Dravid’s career would not have coincided with Tendulkar then his eminence would have been much more legendary. Perhaps with Dravid himself confessing about getting overawed around Sachin, the cricketer always looked to impress the master-blaster whenever he batted.

Fortunately for India, this duo played together a record number of games and elusively became the only two batters who have scored more than 10000 runs for India in both Tests and ODIs. Rahul Dravid’s valiant grit and grid alongside Tendulkar’s glitzy stroke-play brought in oodles of triumphs possibly earmarking themselves at the best number 3 and 4 duos India will ever see.

However, while Tendulkar was always on the quest of becoming the best batsman of the sport, Rahul Dravid in that process often got back footed as a modest legend.