5 Players who deserved a central contract from the BCCI but didn’t get it

4. Dinesh Karthik

It is hard to believe that Dinesh Karthik, who was the toast of the nation some 18 months ago, when hit a last-ball six against Bangladesh to win India the Nidahas T20 tri-series and then helped India win more matches as a finisher. He even played his second ICC World Cup, more than a decade after his first one in 2007.

He was looked as a successor for MS Dhoni in the T20 format, he played his last white-ball game for India against New Zealand in the heartbreaking semi-final match of the World Cup, in which he made 6 runs and hasn’t been considered since for any games, meaning that he missed a lot of games during this time.

Karthik is a veteran with 94 ODIs, 26 Tests and 32 T20I matches to his name for his country with one century and 16 half-centuries in various formats over the period of 16 years.

The 34-year-old has been in good form for Tamil Nadu in domestic cricket in both white and red-ball format and has been on the cusp of making a comeback, but it seems the selectors have moved on from him and onto youngsters backing Rishabh Pant and finding new finishers.

But what they are missing out by ignoring Karthik is the experience he provides in the lower order which has young blood like Dube, Pandya and Pant and need some guiding light in absence of Dhoni.