5 Indian cricketers whose injuries cost the team dearly

Injuries. Something which sportspersons can't escape from, can't anticipate and in some cases, can end careers. In the last fortnight or so, a few Indian players have been in the news for being at the wrong end of it and as a result, the team has had to bring in newer players to fill in the void, left by them.

In the past, there have been other instances as well when the team suffered because of key injuries to players because of the kind of impact, mostly negative, it had on the eventual result.

Here are 5 Indian cricketers whose injuries proved costly for the team:

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Ishant Sharma- 2014 tour of England

Going into a five-match Test series as the underdogs, India knew they had to punch above their weights to beat England in their own backyard with a young side, most of whom had not played there in the past.

After drawing the game at Trent Bridge, India encountered a green seamer in the second Test at Lord's. The batsmen did their part superbly to set England a total of 319 for a win.

They seemed on course for a win on the final day, but after lunch, Ishant Sharma decided it was time to step up his game. Through a series of rising deliveries, he removed one England batsman after another and eventually helped India win the game with career-best figures of 7 for 74.

However, that proved to be his last moment of hurrah on tour as he suffered a 'sore leg' soon enough which ensured he missed the next two matches at The Rose Bowl and Old Trafford and India went on to lose both those matches by heavy margins to let off the series lead and trail 1-2 heading into the fifth Test.

When Ishant did return for that game, the team's morale had taken a 180-degree turn for the worse and even his return could not save a demoralized bunch from going down 3-1 in the series.

Jasprit Bumrah- India's tour to England 2018

India will want Jasprit Bumrah back very soon

If you were to ask MS Dhoni which one cricketer from the present unit he would have loved to have had for a large part of his captaincy tenure, he wouldn't have batted an eyelid and stated Jasprit Bumrah, because of his exploits in the death overs, an area where the team bled a lot of runs during his tenure.

Ever since Bumrah has arrived, that's an area where India did not have a lot of headaches to deal with and so when he sustained a freak injury to his finger in the second T20I against Ireland, there were concerned faces all round and when news came that he would not be able to play in the white-ball leg of the tour, Kohli and co. knew they had a troubling scenario at hand.

As it turned, India suffered at various stages during both the series eventually losing the 50-over rubber and now face the prospect of having him back as late as the second Test of the five-match series.

Yuvraj Singh- ICC Champions Trophy 2006

Yuvraj Singh's injury proved to be fatal for India

India headed to Mohali to play Australia in a must-win encounter of the 2006 Champions Trophy. Yuvraj Singh had been in sensational form for a large part of that year, scoring runs against the likes of Pakistan, England and the West Indies.

On the eve of this game, on his home turf, the left-hander suffered an injury to his knee while playing a game of kho-kho and that ruled him out of the contest.

It proved to be a fatal blow for India who lost the match and bowed out of the competition in the opening round.

Sachin Tendulkar- ICC Champions Trophy 2004

The tennis elbow kept Tendulkar out of the game for a while

India went to England in 2004 to defend the Champions Trophy crown they had jointly won in Sri Lanka in 2002. There were question marks on whether Sachin Tendulkar would be fit in time for the competition as he was still looking to recover fully from a tennis elbow that had stunted his progress in the game.

As it turned out, he could not do so and India suffered as a result of that, bowing out of the competition in the opening round after losing a must-win clash against Pakistan at Edgbaston.

Post his retirement, Tendulkar wrote in his autobiography that this phase of his career, when he suffered from the tennis elbow, even led to him contemplating retirement from the game.

Zaheer Khan- India's tour to England, 2011

Zaheer's absence owing to injury proved to be extremely costly for India

After winning the World Cup at home, India went to England in the summer of 2011, as the number one ranked Test team hoping to defend the Pataudi Trophy they had won in 2007.

Zaheer Khan was back with the team after having missed the tour to West Indies in June and his form with the ball was crucial if India were to do well.

However, on the morning of the first day of the first Test, those dreams faded away when Zaheer injured his right hamstring and walked away, to never bowl again in the series.

India eventually lost that series 4-0.