8 Ranji Trophy stars who could not make it to the Indian team

Amol Muzumdar had tons of runs in his kitty but couldn’t cut into the Indian teamIn a country of more than a billion people, there is possibly no one who has not heard of the game of cricket. Every morning, every city in India witnesses a crowd of white clad, kit bag carrying children flocking the fields to play the game they love.A game which only allows 11 players to play it, how many out of these thousands can actually make a mark in real life? Not many. If we do the math, the rate of success is much lower than the rate of failure. It is everyone’s dream to play for the national team but it’s a real uphill task to even make it to the state Ranji team. Naturally, most give up the game after a certain age while the rest are forced to choose a different profession.However, there is a rare breed who devote their entire life to the game without caring for the recognition they deserved.A few missed out thanks to outstanding peers while a few through ignorance or lack of backing. In a country that has always produced quality cricketers, it is no surprise that some talented players won’t get their due. This is a compilation of eight cricketers who deserved to, but never played for India:

#1 Rajinder Goel

Rajinder Goel has taken 750 wickets in the Ranji Trophy

Rajinder Goel was a quality spinner whose career got steam-rolled thanks to the “spin quartet” of India. The Indian spin quartet is the collective name given to the slow bowlers of 1960s and 70s: Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (both off-spinners), Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (a leg spinner), and Bishen Singh Bedi (a left-arm spinner).

This slow left-arm spinner, who represented Haryana in the domestic cricket, was one of the most feared tweakers in the Indian domestic circuit. He earned the respect of batsmen all over the country and even Sunil Gavaskar rated him as one of the best in the world.

He featured in just one unofficial Test against Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), but could never wriggle into the Indian Test squad. He played during a time when India had an abundance of spin bowling options and even 750 wickets at an incredible average of 18.58 and a staggering economy rate of 2.10 was not good enough to hand him a Test cap.

The team had only one berth for a left-armer and Bedi had established himself in the team, taking 266 Test wickets. So, Goel unfortunately didn’t get a look-in.

#2 Amol Muzumdar

Amol Muzumdar became the highest run-getter ever in the history of Ranji in 2012

Amol Muzumdar’s non-selection is perhaps one of the most unfortunate in modern-day Indian cricket.11,167 first class runs at an average of 48.13 with 30 hundreds, but never a call from the Indian selectors – that’s Amol Muzumdar.

When Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli scripted their record 664-run partnership for Shardashram School, almost announcing themselves for bigger things, Amol Muzumdar was the man who sat with his pads. In 1994, when Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid hogged the lime light playing for India A, the vice-captain of that same side was Amol Muzumdar.

A sensational 260 on Ranji debut marked the arrival of this special batsman. He also became the highest run-getter ever in the history of Ranji in 2012, beating his co-teammate from Mumbai, Wasim Jaffer. Sound technique, with an ability to hit shots all over the ground, a calm head, this batsman from Mumbai had all the makings of a great but when you are born in the era of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, even being special is not enough.

#3 Padmakar Shivalkar

Erapalli Prasanna and Padmakar Shivalkar (right)

589 wickets at an astounding average of 19.69, Shivalkar was certainly better than many players who have played for India.

Another case of born in the wrong era, Padmakar Shivalkar was arguably the best slow left-arm orthodox not to don the Indian colours. He was a captain’s dream as he could pitch the ball in an area for long spells.

Being a typical finger spinner, he turned it prodigiously whenever he gave it a real tweak. However, Just like Rajinder Goel, Shivalkar was competing against the likes of Bedi, Venkataraghavan, Prasanna and Chandrasekhar, it’s not a surprise that he hardly got a chance to wear that Blue cap.

#4 Yere Goud

Yere Goud was nicknamed ‘Rahul Dravid of the Railways.’

Javagal Srinath, India’s pace stalwart called Yere Goud ‘the Rahul Dravid of the Railways team.’ A compliment doesn’t get bigger than this.

Yere Goud made his first class debut for Karnataka and then turned out for the Railways. He won the Ranji title in 2001-02 and 2004-05 with the Railways team and then went on to win three Irani trophies, one Duleep Trophy and a Ranji one-day trophy.

He returned to Karnataka as a captain in 2006 and became a member of a group of less than 20 players to win 100 Ranji caps in 2008. Hailing from a small town in Karnataka called Raichur, Goud scored 7650 runs at an average of 45.53 with 16 hundreds – another player who scored big but failed to register his name in the selector’s books.

#5 Amarjeet Kaypee

Amarjeet Kaypee is the only batsman to score 150 plus in two innings of the same match

Amarjeet Kaypee has 7894 runs in the Ranji trophy, 27 centuries, back-to-back seasons aggregating 800 plus runs with eight hundreds. He is the only batsman in Indian cricket history to score 150 plus in two innings of the same match in a Ranji Trophy game – but still was never considered fit enough to feature in Team India.

Kaypee was not just about his records; the hallmark of his batting was sound technique, his concentration and his insatiable thirst for runs. The Haryana batsman was one of those whose career coincided with the greats like Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Azharuddin and inspite of being one of the highest run-getters in Ranji, Kaypee had no place in the Indian team.

#6 B. B. Nimbalkar

Nimbalkar was very close to breaking Don Bradman’s record run of 454 in first-class cricket

Bhausaheb Babasaheb Nimbalkar is known throughout the cricketing world for his feat of scoring 443 not out for Maharashtra against Kathiawar in a Ranji Trophy match at Pune in 1948-49. That mammoth innings - still the fourth highest in first class cricket - remains the undisputed highlight of his career. However, it is important to note that apart from this, Nimbalkar also had a long and impressive record in the national competition. The main hailing from Kolhapur, was also a wicketkeeper.

His career stretched from the late thirties to the early sixties and he played for as many as six teams. An aggregate of 3687 runs at a healthy average of 56.72 with 11 centuries marks him out as one of the outstanding batsmen in the Ranji Trophy. He never represented India in an official Test and played for the country only once - against the first Commonwealth team in 1949-50, when he scored 48.

His non-slection had remained a bit perplexing because he did not have better contemporaries over-shadowing him.

#7 Sunil Valson

Sunil Valson was selected but never had the chance to play for India

"There may not be any more such summers in Indian cricket. As for myself, I was one among the fortunate 14. It does not matter that I may not have got to play a single game, I did share the dream. I still do," Sunil Valson had said regarding India’s 1983 World Cup win.

Sunil Valson has been labelled as that man who was chosen to be part of the 1983 Indian World Cup squad but never got the chance to play a single game. The team won the coveted trophy against all odds and the names of those 11 players remains etched in our memory but no one remembers Valson.

There is possibly nothing more tragic than being selected but never being able to contribute to India’s fortunes. The ex-Delhi fast bowler is one of the finest Indian pacers to have never donned Indian colours in an official match. In 75 first class matches, he took 212 wickets with an economy rate of 3.25, which is still amongst the elite of Indian bowling. Six five wicket hauls, along with an average of 25.35 but he couldn’t make it to the team, not even after the World Cup was won.

#8 Shitanshu Kotak

Shitanshu Kotak has been the rock for Saurashtra Cricket

Shitanshu Kotak is often touted as the ‘Sachin Tendulkar of Saurashtra cricket.’ Much before the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja, Kotak had defined the very essence of Saurashtra cricket and been their bedrock for 20 years.

Unfortunately for Kotak, his prolific run coincided with India's golden generation of players. The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman formed a formidable middle order. With the entry of Virender Sehwag, the opening slot was also taken.

His 20-year career came to an end in 2014 with 8061 runs at an average of 41 with 15 tons. A century on a green wicket during the 1999/2000 Irani Trophy which was backed up a good Ranji season where he scored over 800 runs can be considered his best season ever.

The Saurashtra btasman himself had claimed that lack of media coverage and over-abundance of talent in the Indian team had led to his non-selection. He couldn’t blame the selectors because he admitted, how could anyone be chosen over the golden trio, who played not just for themselves but always for the team?