5 Most unlucky Indian cricketers since 2000

Team India is blessed with so many great cricketers. There are superstars in every decade. The likes of Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar ruled the 1980s Indian cricket. Sachin, along with Dravid and Ganguly ruled the 1990s. Dhoni, Kohli and Rohit are ruling the present generation.

So when the baton is dropped from yesterday's cricketers, there will be someone from present generation who picks it up. The Sachin, Dravid and Ganguly era is considered the Golden era of Indian cricket.

After the former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly took over the Indian team after the match-fixing scandal in early 2000, he brought together a bunch of cricketers under him who delivered consistent performances, which helped the Indian team achieve so many successes.

The legacy continued when MS Dhoni took over the Indian captaincy from Dada. There have been so many cricketers blessed to play under various Indian captains since 2000. However, there are quite a few Indian cricketers who debuted for India after 2000 who might have been unlucky for not getting enough opportunities or the right opportunity, which ultimately resulted in the downfall of their career.

Let's have a look at some of these talented, yet unlucky, cricketers.

---

#5 Amit Mishra

Amit Mishra

Amit Mishra is one of the most underrated Indian spinners. He has taken over 500 wickets in first class cricket, and 242 wickets in List A, but he has played only limited number of matches for India. He made the ODI debut for India in 2003, but was left out after a couple of games.

It was a period when India's top two spinners, Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble, were at the peak of their powers. So it was really difficult for the Haryana-born spinner to break into the team.

After five years of his international debut, he finally got the opportunity against Australia in 2008. This was due to the leading Indian spinner Anil Kumble getting injured. He had a good start to his Test career, as he took a five-wicket haul in his debut Test.

With Kumble retiring in the same year, it was a nice opportunity for Mishra to establish himself. But due to lack of variations he was inconsistent, and young spinners like Jadeja and Ashwin took his place in the Indian spinners' slot. Since then, Mishra was in and out of the team, as his career slowly faded away. If he had gotten the opportunity three to five years before he actually did, he might have established himself well in the international arena.

#4 Robin Uthappa

Robin Uthappa

Robin Uthappa established himself as an aggressive opener. He came to the Indian team set-up when he played a couple of good innings during the 2005 Challenger Series. He got an opportunity against England in 2006 in the place of Virender Sehwag, and smashed a classic 86 runs on his ODI debut.

But after that, he didn't have enough performances to show against his name. Also, the Indian team had openers like Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, so it was really hard for him to break into this Indian team.

If he had scored tons of runs in the domestic circuit, it might have fetched him a place in the Indian team. But it was not easy as it seems. After 2008, he got another opportunity in 2014, but that was when Dhawan and Rohit had established themselves really well, so he never really got regular opportunities to prove his mettle.

#3 Wasim Jaffer

Wasim Jaffer

Wasim Jaffer is considered as an Indian domestic legend. He has been playing domestic cricket for so many years. He has won all the Ranji trophy finals he has played in so far. He is also the only cricketer to score 1000+ runs in a Ranji season twice.

The Mumbai based cricketer, aged 40, is still playing domestic cricket. He has become the first cricketer to score 11000 runs in Ranji Trophy; a man with such records has received very few opportunities to play for India. He was in and out of the Indian team.

He played his first Test in early 2000, but could not establish himself. He has scored five Test centuries, including two double-centuries. The nature of his game suits Test cricket really well.

However, that is when the Sehwag era had started, and world cricket was heading towards an aggressive brand of cricket. Hence, he wasn't getting many opportunities as the Indian team was blessed with strong openers and middle order batsmen during the 2000 era. So even a player like Jaffer, with a strong domestic performance, couldn't get into the Indian side.

#2 Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik

The Tamil Nadu wicket keeper made his international debut in 2004. Dinesh Karthik had great potential to become one of the successful cricketers. Unfortunately for him, he didn't start well in his international career.

During the same period, the Indian legend MS Dhoni made his debut. The former Indian captain caught every one's eye early in his career. He went on to lead the Indian side from 2007 onwards. On the other hand, Karthik was seen as a wicket-keeper batsman and hence, he wasn't getting consistent opportunities as Dhoni sealed the India's wicket-keeper spot.

Karthik opened the batting in Tests during the 2007 series in England. He performed really well in that series. But Sehwag took over that spot too, and the dashing opener made some great records as opening a Test batsman.

Since then, Karthik has been in and out of the Indian set up. He got the break recently after a strong domestic performance but again, he was dropped from the ODI series against Australia. Karthik has been considered as one of the unluckiest Indian cricketers. Indian fans are hoping that he will be picked for the World Cup.

#1 Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina was hailed as one of the most prolific limited overs batsmen to have played for India. He made his ODI debut in 2005. Raina played down the order early in his career. He got to bat only five times in his first 11 ODIs, and hence wasn't able to prove his worth.

He has batted at number five and six for most of his career. He has scored five ODI centuries and whenever he got an opportunity, he gave his best for the team. The CSK star was prolific for them in the IPL, as he was consistently scoring 400+ runs in all the seasons at number three.

But in International circuit, he never got much of an opportunity to play at the top order. When most of the senior cricketers retired, there was room for him to go up in the order. But unfortunately for him, Rohit and Kohli established themselves in the top three.

Raina therefore had to continue to bat down the order. He wasn't getting enough opportunities with the bat, and that led to inconsistency, which also contributed to the downfall of his career. Nevertheless, he still regarded as one of the best to play for India.