5 Active Indian cricketers who faded away

Cricket is the most followed sport in India. Around 227 players have represented India in One-Day Internationals and 295 have donned the white jerseys for the country. Amongst these, many players have made a name for themselves throughout the world and some of them have been immortalized in the chronicles of cricketing history. However, there are some players who could not make the cut in the opportunities provided to them.

Many of these players had promising starts to their career and some of them were even endorsed as the ones who hold the future of Indian cricket. However, after some below-par performances, they were dropped and could not make a comeback into the national side. At present, these cricketers are largely out of favour for being selected in the team.

Here we present a list of 5 active Indian cricketers who faded away:

Pragyan Ojha

Pragyan Ojha is a slow left-arm orthodox bowler who played for Hyderabad in the domestic circuit. He came into limelight during the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League where he scalped 11 wickets. He was called up to the national side and made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in 2008. Till date, he has played 18 ODIs in which he picked 21 wickets at an average of 31.05. His exploits are far more noticeable in the longest format of the game in which he has 113 wickets to his name in 24 matches at an average of 30.27 including seven 5-wicket hauls.

Ojha had been particularly consistent on the Indian pitches which provided hospitable conditions for his left-arm spin. However, he was never considered for overseas tours because of the pace-friendly wickets. Eventually, he lost his place in the Indian team to Ravindra Jadeja as the team had to strengthen its batting in the lower order.  He experienced another low point in his career when he was barred from bowling in December 2014 after his action was found to be illegal. He cleared the test in the very next month and was allowed to resume bowling.

However, Ojha’s stint with the Indian team did not last long as he last played for India in a Test match against West Indies in 2013, just 4 years after his debut. With the emergence of Ravindra Jadeja as a Test player and new players like Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal showing a lot of promise, the career of the 32-year-old spinner might be already over.