5 Players who were unlucky to have played in the legends era

Imagine Virat Kohli playing in the era of fab 5 and trying hard all his career to get into the test team. Yeah, that sounds harsh.

That's how unfortunate some of the cricketers have been in their careers. Some of these players possessed enormous talent but had to miss out because they were in direct competition with the legends.

Probably, they would have been a regular in the playing XI had they been around in some other era or generation.

Let us look at 5 such players who could not make it to their teams regularly despite being highly skilled.

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#5 Stuart Law

The Queensland batsman is among the most prolific domestic batsmen of Australia. He scored 27080 runs in his first-class career at a remarkable average of 50.08.

Unfortunately, he was around in an era when the Aussies were almost invincible. The kangaroos boasted a world-class batting line-up having Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh and later, Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn.

All this resulted in him playing a solitary test-match for Australia as an injury replacement to Steve Waugh. He scored an unbeaten half-century in that game.

Although he played a few ODI matches for Australia, Law could not get another chance to wear the baggy green.

#4 Amol Muzumdar

Amol was seen as the next Tendulkar by many.

Amol Muzumdar is to India what Stuart Law is to Australia. A prolific run-getter in domestic cricket, he could never represent India at the highest level.

Amol's exploits in the first-class cricket even led to his comparison with Sachin Tendulkar. Unfortunately, he was playing in the domestic circles in the era of Fab 5. With Dravid, Sachin, Ganguly and Laxman forming a formidable middle-order, Amol's chances were always bleak.

He retired from first-class cricket after scoring 11167 runs at an average of 48.13. He would have easily made it to the test team if only he was born in a different era.

#3 Brad Hodge

Hodge scored a double-hundred against SA in SA.

Another unlucky cricketer to have played cricket in the early 2000s is Brad Hodge. His story is nothing short of a heartbreak.

Brad Hodge remained a consistent high scorer in first-class cricket and continued knocking the doors of selectors with his performances.

However, with all the talent and consistency he possessed, the right-handed batsman played only six test matches for Australia.

The Victorian has a rare distinction of having an average of 55.89 in Test cricket to go with a double-century against South Africa. However, he only played six test matches for the national team.

#2 Stuart Macgill

MacGill had a better record at the SCG than Shane Warne.

Stuart MacGill would have been a regular in the test team had he been born in some other era. A vicious leg-spinner, MacGill remained in direct competition with Shane Warne for a place in the test team throughout his career.

The odds of replacing the legend Shane Warne were always next to zero. However, MacGill kept performing in domestic cricket and remained in the reckoning of selectors.

MacGill's only chances came when Warne was injured or when Australia decided to field two spinners.

With 208 wickets in just 44 test-matches, MacGill could have achieved a lot more had he been playing in pre or post-Warne era.

#1 Rangana Herath

Herath played under the Shadow of Murali for a majority of his career.

Herath's story is of tremendous grit and determination. Herath's career remained overshadowed by the legend Muttiah Muralitharan most of the time.

He remained a mere support bowler to Murali for almost a decade. Armed with tremendous skills, his task was confined to containing the run-flow.

Having made his debut in 1999, Herath became a regular in the team only after Murali retired. He has been around for two decades now and still not played 100 test matches.

Still, Herath has remained at the peak of his form and produced numerous match-winning performances since Murali's retirement.

With 415 wickets in 89 test matches, one can only imagine how the stats would have looked had he been around in the non-Murali era.