The 2016 edition of the Ranji Trophy has seen a lot of youngsters come into the fray and break numerous records as well. The likes of Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda and Krishnamoorthy Vignesh have made a strong case for themselves as the future of Indian cricket.
While this is great news for Indian cricket, it means that there are a host of other cricketers whose career might just be over.
In this article, we take a look at 5 Indian cricketers who might never make a comeback into the Indian squad.
#5 Irfan Pathan
After bursting onto the scene in 2004, Irfan Pathan soon became the spearhead bowler for the Indian team for the following few years. With the prodigious swing he produced, he was compared with Pakistan legend Wasim Akram at the beginning of his career. No one will ever forget his wonderful spell of bowling against Pakistan in 2004 and 2005.
He achieved great heights in his career in the first 2-3 years but sadly his decline began soon after which led to him being dropped from the squad time and again.Apart from his bowling ability, he proved to be extremely useful with the bat as well as he provided quite a few worthy contributions with the bat for India.
Currently playing in the domestic circuit, it does not likely that Irfan would get another chance to shine in India colours.
#4 Piyush Chawla
The leggie from Punjab is one of those extremely lucky players to have two world cups to his name despite playing very little.
Having made his Test debut in 2006, he did not enjoy much success as he was soon dropped from the squad. He managed to play only 3 Tests for India over the past 10 years taking 7 wickets at an average of 38.57.
During this time, he featured in 25 ODIs for the Men in Blue as he picked up 32 wickets at an average of 34.90. Currently, with Ravichandran Aswhin, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, and Jayant Yadav, it does not look like Piyush would make another comeback.
#3 Pragyan Ojha
Despite having a lot of talent in his arsenal, it seems unlikely that Pragyan Ojha would make a comeback to the Indian side.
The man from Bengal made his Test debut in 2009 and soon found a decent partnership with Ravichandran Ashwin in 2011 taking 20 wickets in the 2011 home Tests against West Indies and 13 the following year against New Zealand.
After a few inconsistent performances he was dropped from the side and after Ravindra Jadeja’s entry, it became harder for Ojha to come back into the squad.
#2 Praveen Kumar
The bowler from Uttar Pradesh was extremely skilful but lost his place in the side only due to lack of pace. With Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami, and Ishant Sharma taking up the role of the fast bowlers in the side, it looks highly unlikely that Praveen will feature in the Indian side again.
Despite having an average of 25 in Tests, he had an extremely short Test career playing only 6 matches for India in 2011.
He had a longer ODI career which spanned from 2007-2012 where he played 68 ODIs at an average of 36.02 with 77 wickets to his name.
#1 Yuvraj Singh
As much the majority of India would like Yuvraj to make a comeback into the national side, it looks like his career might just be over for good. With a lot of youngsters making their way into the squad, Yuvraj might not get another chance.
Despite being one of the top run-getters of the Ranji Trophy this season, age is not on his side, and the youngsters would be preferred over him when it comes to the Indian squad selection.
Yuvraj made his debut back in 2000 and his career spanned over 15 years where he played 40 Tests, 293 ODIs and 55 T-20s for India with over 12000 runs combined in all formats.
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