The growing number of talented players is more of a challenge than a boon for Indian cricket. Giving every capable player a fair chance and choosing one among them is no less than a challenge for the Indian team management at the moment.
This challenge is as much for the selectors as it is for the players. In today’s time, there are only select opportunities in the team and if the player is unable to capitalize on those opportunities, then he is also shown way out.
Today in this article, we talk about 4 such Indian players who, despite being talented, could not cement their place in the team and were dropped after some time.
Venkatesh Iyer
Young all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer, who shone in the IPL last year (IPL 2021), was included in the T20 squad as a replacement for the injured Hardik Pandya. Iyer started off well in international cricket as he scored 133 runs in 7 innings at a strike rate of 162 and played the role of finisher as well. He also took five wickets with the ball.
However, Pandya made a great comeback showed everyone why he has been India’s main and reliable man to finish the matches. At the same time, Iyer disappointed everyone as his performance went downward and now finds it really hard to make it back to the team.
Prithvi Shaw
U19 World Cup winning captain Prithvi Shaw had made everyone a fan of his game at a very young age. Prithvi, who lived up to everyone’s expectations by scoring a century in his Test debut in 2018, failed to maintain consistency within himself. He was a flop in New Zealand and Australia scoring just 102 runs in 6 innings played in 2020 at an average of just 17 and was then dropped from the Test team.
Even in ODIs, his figures are not special. At the same time, in the only T20I match of his career so far, he was dismissed for zero. However, he has maintained an average performance in IPL playing for the Delhi Capitals.
Navdeep Saini
Fast bowler Navdeep Saini, who became the player of the match in his first international match, and played in all three formats for India. However, apart from T20I, Saini failed to make a mark in both the other formats. Saini has taken 13 wickets in 9 T20I innings at an economy of 7.15. At the same time, he has performed moderately with four wickets in four innings in Test and six wickets in eight innings in ODI. He has not played any match for Team India in all the three formats since last year.
Shivam Dube
Shivam Dube is a fast bowling all-rounder who came into the team on the basis of his good performance in domestic cricket. Dube, who made his international debut in 2019, could not maintain his domestic form and was soon dropped from the team. He has scored a total of 105 runs in 13 T20I matches at an average of less than 18 and has taken only 5 wickets at an economy of over 10. He has not been seen in the Indian jersey for the last two years now.