No more whites: 5 Indian Test cricketers who went off the selection radar
Team India has been ruling the world of Test cricket for quite some time. Under the captaincy of legendary MS Dhoni, India marked its dominance in all the formats of the game. Even when the responsibility came on the shoulders of Virat Kohli, the dominance kept going. As Kohli believes in altering the team often, many cricketers got their chance to seal their place while some of them totally went off the radar from Test cricket. Let’s look at five such names.
5. Stuart Binny
Before Hardik Pandya walked in the field of Indian cricket, Stuart Binny was deemed as the go-to all-rounder in India. He could manage some big shots from his bat and could also pull out some vital overs in between. He also had a memorable Test debut against the English team, where he scored 87 runs at the Trent Bridge. However, he couldn’t flourish further, and he got entirely sidelined.
4. Pankaj Singh
Pankaj Singh marked his debut in Test cricket owing to some impressive performance in the domestic circuit. Selectors named him in India’s tour to England, and Dhoni gave him the chance to appear in the playing XI. He remained wicketless in both the innings in that Test. He later picked his maiden wicket after dismissing Joe Root and later Jos Buttler, but he didn’t get any further chances to play for India.
It took Pankaj Singh 416 balls to get his first Test wicket. AG Kripal Singh holds the record, taking 588 balls for his first. #EngvInd
— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) August 9, 2014
3. Karn Sharma
Sharma received his maiden Test cap when Virat Kohli led the team for the first time in absence of MS Dhoni. He picked two wickets playing at the Adelaide Oval but had to return to the bench as Dhoni came back. He dismissed David Warner twice and even sent Chris Rogers and Michael Clarke to the pavilion. However, he lost track as he didn’t get a chance, thereafter.
2. Murali Vijay
Vijay was one of the best opening batters for India in the purest format of the game in the last decade. With his amazing performance for CSK and Tamil Nadu, MS Dhoni roped him in the playing XI of the team. He set everyone in amazement while having a thunderous 2014 season as he gathered 852 runs in 10 Tests. The problem with him was that he was not able to score big against the top 5 countries as his centuries kept coming against smaller names. Seeing the same, the team management dropped him post 2018-19 overseas tour.
1. Shikhar Dhawan
Dhawan is one of the biggest names for India in the limited-overs format. Recently, he became the first batter in the history of IPL to hit two centuries on a trot. He marked his Test debut with thunderous innings of 187 against Australia. He went on to score a hundred against Black Caps too, but gradually, he started getting inconsistent while playing against big teams and had to lose his position in Tests.
