Indian Cricketers who were given late debuts

Cricket is a game which is known for promoting young cricketing talents across the world. A lot of cricketers start their international career while being in the teenage. The biggest example is the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar who made his international debut at the age of just 16.While plenty of cricketers started their careers at early ages, there have been few who had to wait for a long time to get a berth in the Indian national team.Here are some of the players who made late debuts.

#5 Sameer Dighe

He was picked to play for the Indian ODI team at the age of 31 at Brisbane against Pakistan in the year 2000. Wicketkeeper by role, he played 6 tests and 23 ODIs for India. He was a part of the flurry of wicket keepers that India had tried at that time until MS Dhoni was discovered in 2004.

Dighe scored only one half century in his entire international career. He was more in the team for his keeping skills than the batting skills.

Probably the most important contribution from him came in the third test against Australia in 2001 at Chennai. Batting last India needed to score 155 runs to win the test match. After the top order was dismissed, Dighe was at the crease along with the tail-enders. Those were dodgy moments as Glenn Mcgrath, Jason Gillespie and Shane Warne were all at the Indians. He played a fighting knock of 22 runs from 48 balls to take India to a 2 run victory and a historic 2-1 series win.

Dighe remains a rare India player who was handed his national team debut in his thrities.