Wasted Talents in Indian Cricket!

Indian Cricket has produced many talents in the past, who later were termed as 'legends of the game', for example - Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar and many more. But there were some cricketers who could be termed as 'legends' if they did not waste their talents. Let us take a look at the 'Wasted Talents in Indian Cricket':-

1. Irfan Pathan: Irfan Pathan was considered as one of the most talented left arm swing and seam bowler from India. Many people thought that he would replace Kapil Dev in the Indian Team as the bowling all-rounder.

Greg Chappel wanted Irfan Pathan to play as an batting all-rounder and not as an bowling all-rounder so in order to improve his batting skills, promoted him up the order and slowly Irfan Pathan started to lose his lethal swing, which was the reason of which he could not perform later in his career.

Whenever he played for India, he never disappointed. He was the second player to take a hat-trick for India in Test Cricket, the only one after Harbhajan Singh!

He had an average of 34 in Test Cricket with the bat in the 40 innings he played, with 6 half centuries and 1 century. He also had taken 100 wickets in 29 matches (5884 balls) with an economy of 3.28.

2. Vinod Kambli: Vinod Kambli was considered as a better batsman than the great Sachin Tendulkar in the past. He was a very talented player.
There is no doubt about Kambli's talent with his flamboyant batting skills:

• He shared an unbroken 664 run partnership with Sachin Tendulkar in a school match.
• He became the fastest Indian to reach 1000 test runs.
• He scored 2 centuries and 2 double centuries in 7 test matches.
• He started off his Ranji career with a maximum!
• He became the first cricketer to score three centuries in three consecutive innings.

But Kambli lacked something which is very important in a sportsman's life. Discipline. He is a best example of a talent which was wasted!

• He had issues with alcohol and drugs.
• He got into many controversies off the field too.
• He never gained form after the 1996 World Cup Semi Final against Sri Lanka.
• He did not concentrate on his fitness or improving his form by playing domestic matches.

Robin Uthappa: Robin Uthappa is full of talent, but is wasted. He is known to be an attacking batsman who plays his natural game, no matter whoever the bowler is. He has seldom played sensible and patient innings, but when he gets going, he is a very dangerous batsman. He was an important part of the T20 World Cup in 2007, which was won by India.
He has been scoring consistently over the years in the Indian Premier League for the Kolkata Knight Riders, but unluckily has not been picked in the national side.
He is a very good player, espeically in the limited over format, and yet another talent wasted.

Cheers,
Sparsh