5 talented cricketers who have gone off the radar

There is an old adage in English that goes: “Well begun is half done.” Quite clearly, it means that a good start can take you only halfway through. Thereafter, one needs to build on that start to last until the end.This adage jolly well applies in the cricketing world too. There have been several instances of cricketers kicking off their career in grand style and then falling by the wayside.Let’s take a look at 5 such players in recent times who have gone off the radar after beginning their career with a bang: 

#1 Nasir Jamshed

Last International Appearance: December 2014

When a batsman is branded as the ‘New Inzamam-ul-Haq’, he certainly has to be quite talented. There is absolutely no doubt that Nasir Jamshed has oodles of it. In fact, he lived up to the reputation at the beginning of his career as he scored runs at will against almost every opponent he faced.

In ODIs, he had an enviable record against arch rivals India as he managed to register a score of 50 or more in each of his first four innings against them, with three of these being hundreds.

Tests

Though Jamshed had an incredible start to his ODI and T20I career, he struggled in the couple of Tests that he featured in. He managed to score a mere 51 runs at a dismal average of 12.75. In fact, 3 of his 4 innings were single-digit scores. As a result of this, he did not get an opportunity to play any further Tests.

ODIs

As mentioned above, the 25-year old had a bright start to his ODI career. Up until 2012, it seemed like he could not put a foot wrong as his record read 815 runs in 20 games at an average of 47.94 and a strike rate of 92.09. He was tipped to be the future of Pakistan’s batting.

However, things have changed drastically ever since and he has endured a very tough time over the last couple of years. In ODIs played since 2013, Jamshed has mustered a mere 598 runs at a subpar average of 23.92. His strike rate too has fallen drastically as it stands at a dismal 61.45. This significant dip in form has led to his rejection from Pakistan’s squad for the World Cup.

T20Is

The Pakistan opener’s T20I career followed the same pattern as his ODI career. While he had a very good year in 2012 wherein he accumulated 263 runs at an average of 26.30 and a strike rate of 121.19. His form deserted him in 2013 as he scored only 100 runs in 7 games at an average of 14.28 and a strike rate of 97.08 in the year. He, therefore, fell out of favour and was not part of Pakistan’s team for the World T20 in 2014.

The Way Back

Given that Jamshed is just 25 years old, he certainly has every chance to resurrect his career. Moreover, he is indeed a very talented batsman and has done well in the past. A couple of good seasons in the domestic circuit should hold him in good stead and he could work his way back into the Pakistan team.