5 modern-day Indian cricketers who didn't live up to their full potential
In the world of cricket, there are two types of cricketers - those who burst into the international scene with a lot of hype behind them basis their talent or recent domestic form; and those who not many people would have heard about.
There are pros and cons to being either of these types of players. When a player comes in with people already knowing who he is, the popularity also comes with a mountain of expectations. On the other hand, not many people would support a player who they don't know, over the ones that they do. Either way, what they end up becoming is entirely dependent on how they grab the opportunities that present themselves.
In some cases, the ones you knew nothing about can go on to be some of the biggest names to have ever played the game; for example MS Dhoni. In other cases, players who you might know every single detail about may fail to impress you after all the buzz that they created.
There are dozens of cricketers in the very least, that nobody remembers anymore. Because if every single player that ever donned the blue jersey had made his mark on the squad, there would have been far lesser than a list of 229 players to have represented India in ODI cricket so far.
To put it in black and white - of these 229 players, some of them went on to be legends of the game, some of them made a decent name for themselves, and others didn't last long enough to make a mark. However, there is another category - players that looked like they were absolutely destined to succeed with nothing in their way to stop them, but didn't quite get there.
Here are 5 such players who could have been household names in Indian cricket, but didn't realize their true potential.
#1 Suresh Raina
Suresh Raina made his debut as a 19-year-old, all the way back in July 2005. Often spoken about as the 'next big thing' in Indian cricket, the southpaw had all the makings of somebody who would be a legend by the time he retired.
Having started off his career decently, Raina did have his moments but hadn't done anything that was unseen or unheard of. The introduction of T20 cricket saw Raina become more of a specialist in that format, as he became the first Indian to hit a century in T20 Internationals in the World T20 game against South Africa.
With India seeing the emergence of a young Virat Kohli who was later joined by Rohit Sharma in the same level of calibre, Raina failed to keep up. Eventually, Raina started batting in the middle order where he played some of his best innings, forming crucial partnerships with the then Indian skipper MS Dhoni. Unfortunately, his form in the middle order too didn't last as long as he would have liked and led to his ouster from the team.
Today, Raina still finds himself out of the squad, and it doesn't look likely that we will ever see him back with the men in blue. However, he is still hot property in the IPL, and is the second-highest run-getter in the tournament, behind only Kohli.