5 Indian players who disappointed in 2018
2018 was seen as a challenging year for the Indian Cricket Team. South Africa, England and Australia are considered to be the most testing countries for the visiting teams and even though results might have gone against team India, especially in test matches in South Africa and England, they gave other teams a run for their money at home.
Moreover, the Indian team has shown tremendous improvement in the ongoing series against Australia and it won't be a surprise if they end up winning their first Test series down under.
However, among all these positives, there were a few disappointments as well. While players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Cheteshwar Pujara kept churning out superlative performances in one format or the other, there were some players who failed to live up to the expectations.
As a result of their underwhelming performances, some of these players have already been dropped from the side while others are fighting to keep their place.
So, here are 5 Indian players who disappointed in 2018:
#5 Jaydev Unadkat
Jaydev Unadkat's stocks were on a high after his breakthrough season with the Rising Pune Supergiants in IPL 2017. There has been a dearth of left-arm seamers in India after Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra hung their boots, and thus Unadkat's promising form generated a lot of excitement in the cricket fraternity.
He was expected to make his way into the Indian team in 2018 and was hence selected in the national T20 side for the series against South Africa, where he played 2 matches, taking just 3 wickets while giving away runs at a high economy of 9.78.
Despite his below-par showing, the Saurashtra bowler was retained in the squad for the Nidahas trophy, but unfortunately, failed to make the most of it and leaked way too many runs throughout the series. In four matches, he conceded runs at an economy of 9.93 runs per over.
The 27-year-old was eventually dropped from the squad and hasn't played a single match for India since then. To make matters worse, he had a very poor IPL 2018 as well and so, it is highly unlikely for Unadkat to make a comeback in the national side anytime soon.