5 Ranji Trophy captains who never played for India

In a country populated by 1.03 billion citizens, nearly half of which bleed blue, the struggle to make it to even the domestic cricket arena is real. When in India, every morning you will find a bunch of young boys clad in white, carrying their kit, flocking to the ground nearest to them, with just one dream – that of representing the country someday in the future. But let alone the national team, getting a berth in a local club too is an uphill battle for most.

But the closest one can get to the national team is by playing the Ranji Trophy. And even after having a brilliant record in the biggest cricketing event at the domestic level, some fail to make it to the national team. Here’s a list of Ranji Trophy captains who never played for India.

#1 Mithun Manhas

For some very talented cricketers, it was unlucky to be born in the era of the four legends of Indian cricket – Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly, and Laxman. Mithun Manhas is one such middle-order batsman. Throughout his career, the national team had enough talent to make room for new ones. For the Delhi Ranji team, the skipper Manhas was the pillar since 1998, until he chose to make a shift to the Jammu & Kashmir team.

He was at the helm when the Delhi team ended their long championship drought in the 2007-08 season. The skipper scored 921 runs in that season, at an average of 57.56. He is also the overall third highest run-scorer in the series with 8504 runs from 1998 to present.

#2 Devendra Bundela

Devendra Bundela has been one of the iconic players for Madhya Pradesh

Coming from one of the backwaters of cricket – the small town of Ujjain, Devendra Bundela has been one of the most prolific batsmen in the domestic arena. He made his Ranji debut in the 1995-96 season. But it was only in the 1998-99 season when he came into limelight, scoring 1008 runs in 11 matches, averaging 77.53.

He was made the skipper of the Madhya Pradesh team in 2010, but his greatest test of captaincy was seen when a TV sting operation listed out five domestic players engaged in spot-fixing. Two of the five were from the MP team.

The team could have been derailed by this enormous setback, but the skipper didn’t give up on the two and led the side into the playoffs in the 2015-2016 season. Bundela currently holds the record for being the 4^th highest run-scorer in the Ranji with 8445 runs.

#3 Amol Mazumder

Amol Mazumdar’s achievements always faded into oblivion

When Vinod Kambli and Sachin Tendulkar were creating history with a record 664-run partnership for Shardashram Vidya Mandir in the semi-finals of the inter-school Harris Shield tournament in 1998, 13-year-old Amol Muzumdar was padded up to bat next, but as fate had it, the chance never came.

But the Mumbai captain seized most of the opportunities coming his way as he went on to score 260 on his first-class debut. He continued to create records for Mumbai in domestic cricket but eventually disappeared from the mind’s eye due to the dominance of Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and others.

After 15 years of playing for Mumbai, in 2009, Muzumdar shifted to Assam for a one-year stint before signing up with Andhra. He put down his papers in 2014, with 11,167 runs from 171 first-class matches, marked by 30 centuries.

#4 Yere Goud

Goud was called Railways’ Own Rahul Dravid

Often called Railways’ own Rahul Dravid, Yere Goud made his first-class debut for his home state Karnataka in the Ranji season of 1994-95, before shifting to Railways for nearly a decade and guiding them to the titles in the 2001-02 and 2004-05 seasons.

Though Goud came back to captain Karnataka in the 2006-07 season, he once again went back to Railways and continued for another three seasons with them before bidding farewell to his 17-year career in 2012.

Goud made 7650 runs at an average of 45.53, including 16 centuries. He became the highest run-scorer in 2001-02 with 761 runs.

#5 Pankaj Dharmani

Pankaj Dharmani’s one match international career did not do justice to his talent

Pankaj Dharmani captained Punjab in the Ranji Trophy for five years. Beginning his career as a wicketkeeper-batsman in 1993, the skipper added several feathers to his cap in his glorious career of 18 years.

In first class cricket, Dharmani scored 9,312 runs at an average of 50.06. He has 26 centuries and 42 fifties to his credit and also the highest score of 305 not out.

Dharmani had also scored an unbeaten 202 en route his 460-run seventh wicket partnership with Bhupinder Singh against Delhi in the semifinal of the Ranji Trophy match, setting a world record.

Dharmani did get a call up from the national team for the South Africa tour of 1996 but managed only 8 runs on his international debut. Given that he was a prolific performer in the domestic circuit, he should have been given a longer rope, but the selectors had other plans.