The India-Australia rivalry has been one of the greatest ever in cricket. It is one of those games which makes or breaks the career of a player. We have often witnessed some epic games with both teams refusing to budge an inch. Who can forget the semi-finals of the 2011 World Cup where India clinched a thriller.
Then there have been heartbreaks too like the 2003 World Cup final, where Sourav Ganguly’s men faltered at the final hurdle. Then the rivalry has witnessed some breathtaking knocks too like the ‘Desert Storm’ in Sharjah where Sachin Tendulkar almost single-handedly destroyed the Aussie bowling attack.
Then there was Ricky Ponting’s carnage at 2003 final. Amidst this rivalry, there have been players who have stamped their authority in world cricket and then there have been players who could not quite do so.
Here in this article, we look at five Indian players who made their debuts against Australia but then faded away.
#5 Subroto Banerjee
He was one of the earliest products of the MRF Pace foundation. At first, he showed a lot of promise with the ball and was therefore drafted into the Indian team with a lot of expectations. He was taken on the tour to Australia in 1991-92 where everyone thought he would generate a lot of pace and bounce on the hard and pace friendly tracks.
He was handed his debut in the third Test at Sydney as a fourth specialist seamer and he didn’t disappoint too.
The right-arm fast bowler from Bihar picked up the likes of Mark Waugh, Mark Taylor and Geoff Marsh to finish with figures of 3/47. However, he did not get to bowl in the second innings.
After the success, he featured in the Benson & Hedges World Series but failed to put up impressive performances there.
He was selected for a tour to South Africa thereafter but did not play a single Test and met with only modest success in the One-Day Internationals and domestic cricket.
Before long he was a forgotten talent. One of the main reasons why he could not shine at the highest level was that he was usually short and wide and could not bowl long spells.
#4 Sairaj Bahutule
Bahutule had a disheartening start to his cricketing career as he was torn apart by Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli in their 664-run partnership in school cricket. But then the legspinner slowly climbed up the ladder of success and played alongside the duo for Mumbai.
A fine run of performances, which culminated in a 13-wicket haul in the Irani Cup in 1997-98, led him to the Indian team. But just 2 wickets from 8 One-Dayers got him out of the team again.
He, however, made his Test debut in the famous Border-Gavaskar trophy in 2001 as Anil Kumble was nursing an injury. In the third Test, where India won by two wickets Bahutule picked up a wicket in each innings. But he was dropped from the squad thereafter. He just played one more Test match after that in august that year.
#3 Samir Dighe
The wicket-keeper batsman from Mumbai was called into the Indian team when he had given up hope playing for the national side. At 31, Dighe was in the United States studying when he earned his limited overs debut in a series in Australia.
He was quite impressive there, bagging four catches in a game against Pakistan. He had to wait two more years to get his Test call-up which was also against Australia in the now famous Chennai Test in 2001.
He had quite an ordinary outing with the gloves but then in the second innings, with the bat, Dighe scored an unbeaten and courageous 22 to take his side to a famous victory.
Thereafter he became a first choice keeper for Sourav Ganguly for some time, but his batting form deserted him soon.
As a result after playing just 6 Tests, he never again got a call back to the Indian team.
#2 Rahul Sanghvi
Sanghvi got into the Indian limited overs side in 1998 and impressed a few with his performances. He grabbed his best bowling figures in a game against Zimbabwe and then put a tight leash on the Australian batsmen in the Coca-Cola Cup final at Sharjah the same year.
Then, as suddenly as he made it to the national side, he was dropped and forgotten for more than two years. However, some brilliant performances in domestic cricket helped him make his Test debut against Australia in Mumbai in 2001.
It was the first Test and Sanghvi could only pick up two wickets. India lost the Test match and the left-arm spinner was dropped from the side in the aftermath. He never played a Test for India again.
#1 Vinay Kumar
For a man who has led Karnataka to two Ranji Trophy titles, it is quite unbelievable that he has featured in just one Test match for team India.
In the 2012 tour to Australia, Vinay was drafted into the team for the third Test after India lost the first two. But, even on the pacy and bouncy wicket at Perth Kumar failed to deliver to his calibre.
The speedster managed to pick just one wicket that of Michael Hussey but gave away 73 runs in the first innings.
Australia won the game by an innings and 37 runs and Kumar did not get to bowl another delivery in Test cricket again.
On the contrary, Kumar featured in 31 ODIs and 9 T20s for the men in blue and was quite a wicket-taker for them pocketing 48 scalps in total.
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download Cric Rocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more!
