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The term child prodigies is often associated to unprecedented talent, who tend to excel at a very young age and most of the time, they transition to the senior level with relative ease. However, not every child prodigy ends up becoming a superstar.In India, the case is not very different. The role of the media in hyping up a young talent affects his/her career trajectory. From cricket to tennis, child prodigies have built up a massive reputation at a very young age, only to not live up to it later on.Here are five Indian child prodigies, who failed to make the cut:
#1 Vinod Kambli (Cricket)
Kamblis fall from grace is remarkable. He shared an unbroken 664 run partnership with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. He also scored more runs than Tendulkar in school cricket, according to coach Ramakant Achrekar, he was a bigger talent than Sachin. In that particular innings, he contributed 349 runs.
Despite making two double-centuries and two centuries in his first seven test matches for India, Kambli played only 17 tests for India. His last international match was at the age of 24.
Kamblis temperament was the reason for his short career as he failed to make an impact after the first 14 innings of his career.
#2 Jeje Lalpekhlua (Football)
The 24-year old currently playing for Mohun Bagan has represented India 21 times. However, Jeje as he is better known was being touted as Baichung Bhutia’s replacement in the national team. Despite scoring goals at various levels, he failed to transition to the next level.
Jeje was selected to play for the Mizoram U-19 team as a 17-year old. He went onto impress coach, India U-19 coach, Colin Toal. But, he would score only two goals for the team.
He did finally get a chance to play for the senior team and he would go onto score 8 goals in 24 games for them. But the form he showed at the U-16 level was not even close to what it is now.
#3 Narain Karthikeyan (F1)
Karthikeyan will always be remembered as the first Indian F1 driver. However, the potential he showed at a young age indicated that he could have reached the top of the sport.
In 1994 as an 18-year old Karthikeyan recorded a podium finish at the Formula Junior Championship in Portugal. In 1996, he became the first Indian and Asian to win a Formula 1 series. A couple of years later, he had already graduated to Formula 3.
Despite showing a lot of prowess at a young age, Karthikeyan only raced for the lower rung teams in Formula 1 (Jordan and Hispania Racing).
#4 Sania Mirza (Singles tennis)
Despite being ranked sixth in doubles, Mirza was Indian women’s tennis’ lone hope of breaking into the world top 10. In August 2007, she reached a highest singles ranking of 27, defeating top ranked players such as Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva and Marion Bartoli.
Mirza turned professional in 2003 and 10 singles titles, but only managed to secure one WTA title as a senior player. However, post 2007, Mirza’s downfall began as she would fall out of the top 100 in the next three years.
She will be remembered as a doubles stalwart, who had the potential to become a top notch singles player.
#5 Irfan Pathan (Cricket)
Pathan’s story was nothing short of a rags to riches one, coming from a humble background, he reached the pinnacle of the sport by representing India. However, whether he lived up to his talent is questionable.
He was selected for the U-14 Baroda team, at the age of 11. Within a couple of years, he would break into the U-16 team. Pathan at the time also represented the India U-15 team.
He was selected for India at the age of 19, for the away series in Australia. However, his break-through series was against Pakistan picking up 12 wickets, helping India secure their first ever series victory over Pakistan.
That being said, he would only go onto play 29 test matches, taking 100 wickets and scoring one century. Obvious comparisons with Kapil Dev were thwarted, due to lack of appearances.
