5 Cricketers who played just one game for India and faded away

In India, cricketers have to work quite hard enough to make it into the national side. In a country of 1.3 billion where cricket is followed quite religiously, it is not a cakewalk for any professional player to make it into the national team. However, it is not an impossible task to do as well.

There is no doubt over the fact that India is a nation that is known for giving out some of the best cricketing talents to international cricket. They have produced some of the gem cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and others. They played more than 100 games across all the formats for Men in Blue. Also, they got chances to prove their worth whenever they were hit with poor form.

But, every player has its own destiny and we are listing out five players that played for Team India in only one match across all the formats and never got enough opportunities to prove their worth due to unknown reasons.

Here are five such players:

1. Faiz Fazal

Faiz Fazal was once looked down as a promising opener in the domestic cricket. There were some voices in the media who opined that he had all the skillset to become a regular opener for Team India. In 2015-16 Deodhar Trophy he scored a brilliant ton playing for India A against India B in the final that helped his side in winning the trophy.

Later on, he muscled another important ton for Rest of India against Mumbai in the Irani Cup. All his performances in that year were tracked by the selectors who were impressed with the left-handed opener. This turned out to be the reason due to which he was fast-tracked into Team India for three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe. He got off a to a great start to his international career with a brilliant fifty in his debut game. However, nobody knew that it was going to be his last appearance for the national side.

After that match, the chances were given to other players as well in the team in the absence of senior players by the management. It looked like Faiz Fazal had managed to leave his mark with the bat and he will be picked in the upcoming tours but that never happened.

2. Sreenath Arvind

Sreenath Arvind, the former Indian pacer born in Bangalore was an intelligent fast-bowler. He made his First-class debut back in 2008-09 for Karnataka and performed extremely well with consistency for the domestic team that helped him in getting an IPL contract from Royal Challengers Bangalore back in 2011. He grabbed 21 wickets in 14 games that left everyone in surprise.

After a good show in IPL, he was picked for the series against England in the same year, However, he got injured and was ruled out from the whole series. Later on, he returned with a bang on performances for Karnataka in Ranji Trophy 2014-15. He played a crucial role in making his side winner in that prestigious tournament.

Soon, he was drafted into the T20I squad for the first three games of five-match T20I series against South Africa in 2015. Moreover, he got the chance to make his international debut in the same series against Proteas. However, he couldn’t control his nerves in the match and ended up with expensive bowling figures of 44 runs in 3.4 overs and one wicket. After that game, he was never picked in Team India across all the formats although he was quite a talented bowler, who proved his worth again and again in domestic cricket and IPL.

3. Shahbaz Nadeem

Shahbaz Nadeem, the 30-year-old born in Bokaro is an extremely experienced and talented spinner in the domestic cricket. The off-spinner ended as the leading wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy in consecutive seasons– 2015-16 and 2016-17 with a total of 51 and 56 wickets respectively.

He played for a couple of franchise in IPL like Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the past. He made his first-class debut back in 2004 for Jharkhand. But, it took him almost 16 years and more than 400 wickets to get his first international game.

The 30-year-old was picked by the selectors in the squad of Team India for the T20I series. But he was never got a match to play in that series. In 2019, the moment came when he was picked as a replacement for injured Kuldeep Yadav for a Test match against South Africa.

He managed to grab four wickets in that match. Afterwards, he never took the field in any of the games for the national team. The reason is still unknown why team management never gave him game time to prove his worth after performing well. It turned out to be the last game for off-spinner as of now. But, he still holds a chance by giving outstanding performances for Jharkhand in domestic cricket.             

4. Rahul Chahar

Rahul Chahar, the young leg-spinner has always been looked down as an underrated bowler by the national selectors which he is not. He hogged the spotlight while playing for Mumbai Indians since 2018. He is a great turner of the ball and a matured bowler, who holds the ability to dismiss any talented batsman across the globe.

The 20-year-old plays for Rajasthan and ended as the leading wicket-taker for the team in 2018-19 Vijay Hazare Trophy with 20 wickets. Later on, he performed well in the 2018-19 Deodhar Trophy due to which he managed to attract the selectors and was picked in the national side for the T20I series against West Indies in 2019. He got the chance to make his international debut in the 3rd game of the series in which he recorded bowling figures of 1/27. However, after that series, he was never picked in the team.

He still raw and young, who has enough amount of time under his belt to prove his worth in front of the national selectors. Also, there are voices in the media to try and test the youngster in the shorter format ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup.

5. Mayank Markande

Mayank Markande emerged as a one-season wonder, who hit the headlines with his brilliant spin bowling while playing for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2018. He grabbed 15 wickets in 14 games in that season of the cash-rich league. Later on, he did a convincing job with the ball in 2018-19 Ranji Trophy for Punjab. He grabbed 29 wickets in six games and emerged as the leading wicket-taker for his team in the tournament.

After showing his class in IPL and Ranji Trophy, he was picked by the selectors for the T20I series against Australia in 2019. He got his big moment in the series opener against Aussie but failed to give a breakthrough performance for the team in that match with the ball. Moreover, he recorded expensive bowling figures of 0/31.

At that time, the selectors and team management might have thought that the 22-year-old leg-spinner still needs some more time to attain maturity in his bowling. Afterwards, a sudden dip in his form with the ball set him far away from getting into the plans of selectors going into the future for Team India.