{"id":28290,"date":"2020-07-28T12:30:58","date_gmt":"2020-07-28T07:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kyrosports.com\/?p=28290"},"modified":"2020-07-28T12:30:58","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T07:00:58","slug":"the-lesser-lights-of-indian-cricket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kyrosports.com\/the-lesser-lights-of-indian-cricket\/","title":{"rendered":"The lesser lights of Indian cricket"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over the decades, many cricketers have distinguished Indian cricket<\/a> with their incredible skills with the willow or the red cherry. <\/p>\n\n\n

However, while some have left behind a lasting legacy and are still remembered and celebrated as some of the greats in the game, there are those who trailed off in silence without getting their due. <\/p>\n\n\n

Despite pulling on the Indian jersey like some of their more distinguished counterparts in the game, these lesser lights continue to remain in the shadows of anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n

All that they get for the years of blood and toil to win that coveted India cap is a monthly pension and an occasional appearance on television as a pundit.<\/p>\n\n\n

An uncanny off-break bowler<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
\"GC
A skillful operator, Chauhan played 21 Tests and 35 one-day internationals for India, picking up 47 and 29 wickets respectively. (Credits: Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

The first name that comes to mind when one talks about the forgotten stars of Indian cricket is Rajesh Chauhan, a canny off-break bowler, who combined with slow left-armer Venkatapathy Raju and Anil Kumble<\/a> to send even the best of batting line-ups crashing on trademark dust bowls in the nineties.<\/p>\n\n\n

A skillful operator, Chauhan played 21 Tests and 35 one-day internationals for India, picking up 47 and 29 wickets respectively. Though he brought many joyful moments for India cricket, there are few which stand out. <\/p>\n\n\n

First, the astonishing one-handed catch he pulled off to dismiss a rampaging Shahid Afridi off his own bowling in the 1997 quadrangular ODI series in Sharjah. <\/p>\n\n\n

Second, the six he hit in the last over to clinch a famous, heart-stopping win for India against Pakistan in the 1997 Karachi ODI. Perhaps, the only time he hit the headlines post retirement was in 2014 when he survived a massive cardiac arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n

Left-armer from Hyderabad<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
\"forgotten
Despite some notable performances, Raju could never hold down a regular place for himself in the Indian team. (Credits: Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Another name that begs a mention in this context is of his spinning mate Raju. Though the left-armer from Hyderabad had many memorable outings in India colours alongside Chauhan and the more recognised Kumble, Raju left the game in a blaze of silence. He played 28 Tests and 53 ODIs for India, with 93 and 52 scalps to his name.<\/p>\n\n\n

Among his standout performances were a stunning 6\/12 against Sri Lanka, including a spell where he picked up five wickets for two runs, and two five-wicket hauls in the home Test series against Brian Lara’s West Indies in 1994.<\/p>\n\n\n

However, despite some notable performances in both the longer and shorter versions, Raju could never hold down a regular place for himself in the Indian team and eventually fell out of favour with selectors.<\/p>\n\n\n

A compact opener<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

Another name that warrants mention in this connection is Shiv Sunder Das, a diminutive opener from Odisha. A compact player with neat defence, Das was especially good off his backfoot. <\/p>\n\n\n

He featured in 23 Tests for India, aggregating 1,326 runs. He has two hundreds and nine half-centuries in his Test kitty, with a top score of 110. A genuine opener, Das played just four ODIs. Despite being  a dependable opener and an attractive stroke-maker, Shiv fell away in the pecking order.<\/p>\n\n\n

Post retirement, he took up coaching assignments, managing the Barbados cricket team before being named coach of the Manipur Ranji team in August 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n

Speedster from Odisha<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
\"Forgotten
Debashish Mohanty’s pen-chested bowling action made him stand out in world cricket. (Credits: Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Another name that ought to feature among the forgotten stars is Debashish Mohanty, the speedster from Odisha. His open-chested bowling action made him stand out in world cricket and he was known to extract prodigious swing on helpful surfaces. <\/p>\n\n\n

Despite breaking into the national team on the weight of his domestic performances, Mohanty could only play 2 Tests for India. However, he played 45 ODIs, including the 1999 World Cup, picking up 57 wickets.<\/p>\n\n\n

He, too, charted a coaching career after retirement and was the coach of the Barbadian team before Shiv took over.<\/p>\n\n\n

While their names may never be taken alongside the legends of the game, it doesn’t take anything away from their contribution to Indian cricket.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Over the decades, many cricketers have distinguished Indian cricket with their incredible skills with the willow or the red cherry. However, while some have left behind a lasting legacy and are still remembered and celebrated as some of the greats in the game, there are those who trailed off in silence without getting their due. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":28338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,602],"tags":[5820,85,86,5821],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kyrosports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28290"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kyrosports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kyrosports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kyrosports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kyrosports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kyrosports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kyrosports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kyrosports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kyrosports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kyrosports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}