Five Players Who Struggled To Play For India Under MS Dhoni's Leadership

There’s nothing more upsetting in sport than to see a talented player struggle for opportunities. What’s more upsetting is that in the past decade, there have been various players who’ve suffered from this. We’re talking about players with the potential to play for the Team India, although for some reason they failed to make the cut.

Every year, a lot of players shine at the domestic level, although only a few can make it to the national team on the back of their domestic performances.

Moreover, of these, only a fraction of these players are able to make an impact, and this is when players need the backing of their skipper.

Under MS Dhoni’s leadership, many talented players came to the fore, but they struggled for consistency and couldn’t cement a place in Team India.

Today, we’ll be listing below, five such players who could have had much more success in their respective careers, if Dhoni had supported them.

Five players who struggled to play for India under MS Dhoni’s leadership:

5) Naman Ojha

Wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha is also one of those players whose international careers never really took off because of the presence of MS Dhoni. The Indian skipper himself is a wicketkeeper-batsman, and thus, Ojha couldn’t get as many opportunities that his talent deserves.

He played just one Test match for Team India, wherein the 36-year-old scored 56 runs. Moreover, Ojha represented the national team in just one ODI, he played seven balls before getting dismissed, having scored just one solitary run.

The right-handed batsman further played just two T20 matches and managed a total of 12 runs. Owing to these struggles, Ojha was never given more chances in the Indian team.

At the domestic level, the batsman from MP has 9753 runs, in First-class matches, which highlights the potential he had, only if he had the backing from Dhoni, Ojha’s career would have been very different altogether.

4) Robin Uthappa

Another wicketkeeper-batsman who struggled to play for the Indian team due to Dhoni’s consistency. Robin Uthappa was considered a superstar at the domestic level, although he never really managed to cement his place in the national side.

The 34-year-old played 46 ODI matches for Team India, scoring 934 runs including six fifties. He further played 13 T20 matches, wherein Uthappa managed 249 runs.

Whereas in First-class cricket, he has 9446 runs including 22 centuries. The right-handed batsman has 6157 runs in List-‘A’ matches, a tally that clearly speaks a lot about his talent, but it just didn’t work out for Uthappa under Dhoni.

3) Dhawal Kulkarni

Dhawal Kulkarni was an extremely talented prospect whose lack of consistency cost him dearly. Kulkarni’s exploits in domestic cricket though, tell a different story altogether.

He played 12 ODI matches for Team India, taking 19 wickets at an economy rate of 5.09.

Whereas, the 31-year-old played two T20 matches in national colours and picked up just three wickets.

These stats are very different from his domestic level performances.

Kulkarni has 261 wickets in First-class cricket, with an average of 27.48. Moreover, the right-handed pacer has 203 scalps with an average of 22.80 in List-‘A’ matches. Unfortunately for him, MS Dhoni never really trusted Kulkarni, and thus he was never a regular feature in the national side.

2) Wasim Jaffer

A player who very recently announced his retirement from all formats of cricket, Wasim Jaffer too struggled to play for Team India under MS Dhoni’s leadership. He was a consistent performer at the domestic level, although Jaffer never got the opportunity to impress for the national side.

The 42-year-old played 31 Test matches for India, scoring 1944 runs, including five centuries. In ODI cricket, Jaffer suffered the most, he got to play just tw0 matches wherein he managed just 10 runs.

The right-handed batsman scored 19410 runs in First-class cricket, including a staggering 57 centuries. Jaffer has 4849 runs in List-‘A’ matches, despite that, he never earned the backing of Dhoni, and hence couldn’t leave a lasting impression in international cricket.

1) Manoj Tiwary

Manoj Tiwary has been playing good cricket lately, despite that, he has never played for India consistently. Tiwary has played just 12 ODI matches in national colours so far, scoring 287 runs, including one century and one fifty.

The 34-year-old has played three T20 matches for India, scoring just 15 runs and hasn’t got any opportunities since. In domestic cricket though, Tiwary has been a superstar.

In First-class matches, the right-handed batsman has 8930 runs including 27 centuries, whereas, in List-‘A’ matches, he has 5466 runs.

MS Dhoni though was never really impressed by Tiwary, and thus his career stalled and never really recovered.