There is no bigger honour in the sport of cricket than representing your country in the World Cup. The larger than life event comes once in four years and playing in the show-piece event often a pinnacle in one's career. Many make their name in this prestigious competition and some prove their worth by match winning performances.
Quite a few legendary batsmen have extended their careers for another shot at winning the Cup. The likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Imran Khan played longer than their body permitted and performed admirably to lift the World Cup title. Others, like Kumar Sangakkara and Muttiah Muralitharan, failed in doing so.
While some never had the honour, the others missed out on one edition of the World Cup which was a blow to their careers. Here is a list of Indian cricketers who missed out on big events because of some or the other reason:
#4 Praveen Kumar (2011 World Cup)
The man from Meerut was a regular in the Indian team for a couple of years before the 2011 World Cup began. He was expected to play a big role in India's bid for winning the Cup on home soil. Praveen Kumar and Zaheer Khan were the designated opening bowlers for Team India and had previously worked well in tandem.
Kumar, however, sustained an elbow injury during the tour of South Africa just two months before the action began. Despite that, the board gave him the chance to recover for the World Cup.
Extra cover: 5 Indian players who should be groomed for the 2019 World Cup
He trained at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore for his recovery and was also sent for a checkup to Dr Andrew Wallace in London - the same doctor who treated Sachin Tendulkar's tennis elbow injury. But even after every possible remedy, Kumar could not get match fit for the World Cup on home soil.
He was eventually replaced by Shanthakumaran Sreesanth who proved to be a lucky charm for India. Sadly, the Uttar Pradesh bowler never really looked at his threatening best after missing out on a place in the 2011 World Cup.
#3 Rohit Sharma (2011 World Cup)
Rohit Sharma emerged on the scene in 2007 and till 2009, the stylish batsmen played some crucial knocks to give his team good starts. His contribution in the 2008 CB series was impervious but after that, inconsistency crept in his game which troubled him in the following years. On his day, he was this box of talent who would smash bowlers effortlessly and on others, he just failed to click.
Before the squad for the 2011 World Cup was announced, Sharma had the highest score of a mere 44 in the previous 11 ODIs that he had featured in. On top of that, India had a safe lineup which selected itself in the team. It was difficult for Sharma to get a game ahead of the likes of Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina.
It was later revealed that Sharma missed a place in the squad by a whisker as the selection committee went ahead with the idea of having an extra bowler in the squad. If not for a bowler's place, Rohit Sharma would have come in place of Yuvraj Singh who was also out of form at the time.
But Yuvi's bowling capacity helped him get the nod ahead of Sharma. Rohit had once stated in an interview that missing the 2011 World Cup was a big blow to him but it generated a fire inside him to work even harder and he did just that in the matches after the World Cup.
#2 Rahul Dravid (1996 World Cup)
Rahul Dravid can be best simplified as a wolf who lived for the pack. He was one of the greatest batsmen that India ever produced. But the 1996 World Cup on home soil was a wake-up call for the then young Dravid who had just started his international career. He was included in the 20 probables but was left out when the final team was made official.
Dravid once revealed that he was didn’t expect to be selected for the World Cup and was equally motivated to work even harder for the Ranji matches at the time of the World Cup. He was the captain of Karnataka at that time and returned to his state team after not getting selected in Mohammad Azharuddin's final squad.
A magazine once asked Dravid about the 1996 omission to which he replied, "What could I have done? Cry loudly? Leave cricket? I quickly calculated that I'm getting four Ranji matches before team selection for the next England tour. I told myself not playing the World Cup means you need four centuries in those four matches. I did that."
This story is yet another glorious example of the perseverance of Indian cricket's Dark Knight.
#1 VVS Laxman (2003 World Cup)
It is a travesty that India's very very special Laxman - one of the country's elite test players - never featured for the country in a World Cup. The biggest shock came in 2003 when despite being in great touch, Laxman was dropped in favour of a more dynamic batsman in Dinesh Mongia. Captain Sourav Ganguly later called the decision as a big mistake as he regretted dropping an experienced campaigner in Laxman.
Laxman was understandably distraught by his dropping as he said at that time, "It was very unfortunate that I missed the World Cup and it came as a rude shock to me. The selection was done and I was not picked. It was definitely the lowest point in my career."
Rubbing salts to his wounds, BCCI sent him to West Indies as the captain of India A. But he returned to the 50-over fold for his national side with a bang and scored five centuries in six months in 2004 before calling it a day in 2006. Even after a brilliant time for his country which included 134 tests, Laxman considered not playing the 2003 World Cup as his biggest regret.
