India has been blessed with many quality cricketers. But
some of them failed to break into the national team. In this article 'Team
Predictors' discuss about some of such players who missed out their
opportunities to don the national cap. Some of them failed just because of
presence of some big names in the Indian line up and others missed out because
of offensive nature of selectors. Any way, we can have a look at some of those
talented, but unfortunate cricketers.
1. Hari Gidwani
The right hand middle order batsman started off his
career with Delhi. After six years he shifted to Bihar team. Hari Gidwani, who
was a gallant stroke player, performed consistently in domestic seasons
and at times was too close for selection. But fate never allowed him to play
for India. Gidwani made 6,805 runs from 119 first-class matches at an average
of 42.53 with 15 centuries. Gidwani had scored centuries in 5 successive Ranji
trophy matches during 1986-87 and 1988-89 season.
His highest score of 229* was scored against
Karnataka in 1989-90 Ranji trophy quarter finals.He was close to national
selection when he scored a century against visiting Srilankan team in 1975. He
even got a note from Salim Durrani stating that he hoped to see Gidwani in the
Indian team very soon. But the selection call never came his way.
2. K P Bhaskar
Bhaskar Pillai was born in Trivandrum,
Kerala. The stylish middle order batsman played for Delhi from 1982 to 1994. He
played 95 first class matches, scoring 5443 runs at an average of 52.84
including 18 centuries and 21 half centuries. His highest score is 222. The
malayalee who migrated to Delhi was a dashing player of very high standards.
His century for North Zone in 1992 playing against South Zone was a real
example of his talent. He was hit by a toe crushing yorker and had a broken toe
nail. When he came to bat at five down position, North Zone was really in need
of some miracles. Bhasker went on to score a century and set South Zone a
target of around 200.
South Zone failed to achieve the target and North
Zone won the match. KP, as he was affectionately called by his colleagues,
averaged about 70 in the Ranji season, between 1983 and 1989. The presence of
talents like G Vishwanath, Amarnath prevented KP from getting into the team. In
his later part of cricketing life the presence of Tendulkar, further minimized
his chance of getting selected.
3. Rajinder Goel
Rajinder Goel is the highest wicket taker in Ranji
trophy with 640 wickets from 123 matches, that too at an impressive rate of
17.15. Born in Punjab, the left arm spinner represented South Punjab, Delhi and
Haryana in Ranji Trophy. Rajinder Goel played for India in a lone unofficial
test against Ceylon in 1964. He took 4/33 in the second innings of the match.
The presence of Bishan Singh Bedi halted his progress to the Indian team. In
the absence of Bedi, he was called for a test against West Indies at Bangalore
in 1974. But unfortunately he was not selected in the playing XI.
When Australia came to India in 1979, Goel managed
to pick 9 wickets in a practice match, including 6/103 in the first innings.
But this time too, the national selectors let him down. He retired from cricket
in 1984. Even in his last season, he had picked 39 wickets from 6 matches. In
an interesting event, a dacoit , Bukha Singh Yadav once wrote to the left arm
spinner, from Gwalior jail, congratulating him on picking 600 wickets in Ranji
tournament !
4. Padmakar Shivalkar
hivalkar's best figures of 8/16 came against Tamil
Nadu in Ranji Trophy final in 1972-73. In his book, the batting legend Sunil
Gavaskar mentions about 31 idols of cricket. Interestingly two non test players
too found their place in the list and they were none other than Padmakar
Shivalkar and Rajinder Goel.
5. Amol Mazumdar
Among modern day cricketers, Amol Mazumdar has been
the most unluckiest. Despite averaging close to 50 in first class cricket and
scoring 30 centuries and 60 half centuries Amol Muzumdar, unfortunately never
got a chance to don the Indian jersey. Along with Sachin Tendulkar, he was an
inmate of Sharadashram Vidyamandir School. When Sachin and Kambli together
plundered a record partnership of 664 runs in Harris Shield match, Muzumdar was
padded up next. Unfortunately the great talented player remained padded up in
the latter part of life too, as he never got a chance to play for India while
Sachin and Kambli went on to play for India. Muzumdar was a middle order
batsman.
During that time India had a well settled middle
order in Dravid, Ganguly, Azharuddin and Laxman. Muzumdar made 260 on his first
class debut against Haryana in Ranji Trophy quarter finals in 1993-94. He held
the record for most runs in Ranji trophy, which was later overtaken by Wasim
Jaffer. Muzumdar had scored 11,167 runs from 171 first class matches. But
despite all those heroics, Muzumdar failed to attract the attention of
selectors. Muzumdar played primarily for Mumbai in domestic level. In the
latter stages he shifted to Assam.
6. Amarjeet Kaypee
The right handed batsman held the record for most
runs in Ranji trophy until 2009, when Amol Muzumdar overtook him. Amarjeet
Kaypee was a familiar name for Indian cricket followers of 80s and 90s. He had
scored 7,894 runs from 117 first class matches at an average of 52.27 with the
help of 27 centuries and 34 half centuries. The consistency he displayed
was amazing, and his highest score of 210* came against Delhi. Amarjeet played
at domestic level for Haryana and Punjab.
So that's all for this article. We have tried to
include the top 6 players. The list may go on forever. The players like Hyder
Ali,Vinay Lamba, Venkat Sundaram, Rizwan Shamsad, Dilip Doshi also may be
included in the list of players who missed out a chance to play for India. They
also deserved to be treated by the selectors in a better way.
Comments
Post a Comment