Instances when underserving players were picked over younger or better performing players

[Trichromatic]

2010 SA

Jaydev Unadkat made a debut. Zak was unfit and Ishant was erratic.

 

2011 Eng tour

Zak was injured

RP Singh who wasn't even playing FC cricket was called from Miami and he was barely bowling at 80 mph. Sreesanth claimed big about his fitness, and turned up fat. Bowled well in Trent Bridge test, but lacked fitness to last 3 sessions. Harbhajan was averaging 40, but had bowled well in SA.

 

We also had Suresh Raina playing.

 

Look at the alternatives for both series. Umesh Yadav was 23 back then, was bowling at 90 mph regularly. Had fitness, skills and couldn't even get a place ahead of RP Singh. Same goes Shami and Ashwin. Those players weren't too young to debut and were better options.

 

From batting perspective Pujara made debut in SA and didn't play afterwards. Rahane and Kohli didn't debut in England series over Raina who was avg in FC cricket and was selected purely on basis of LOIs performance.

 

 

[Trichromatic]

These mistakes were fixed a bit and Ashwin, Umesh, Kohli played 2012 Aus series. Shami, Rahane and Pujara were missing.

[express bowling]

A semi-fit and old Ishant was preferred over an in-form Siraj in the WTC Final 2021.

 

Big mistake !

 

Edited December 12, 2021 by express bowling

[Suhaan]

36 minutes ago, express bowling said:

A semi-fit and old Ishant was preferred over an in-form Siraj in the WTC Final 2021.

 

Big mistake !

 

Just a normal Kohli decision,

Would have been surprised if he had played Siraj actually

Playing Saha over Pant in home conditions, that's another gem from kaptaan

[Jay]

39 minutes ago, express bowling said:

A semi-fit and old Ishant was preferred over an in-form Siraj in the WTC Final 2021.

 

Big mistake !

 

thakur in form dint get picked and instead opted for 2 spinners on a seaming track. 

no siraj as you mentioned

also dint have the balls to drop rahane and pujara after abysmal performances.

rahul and sundar if available or hell someone like iyer would have sufficed. 

[Jay]

one of the worst decisions i have ever seen is swapping kyle abbout out for philander due to quota system iirc in 2015 WC semi final. not saying saffers would have won with kyle playing but he was in better form at the time. 

[Lord]

Rahane playing ahead of Karun Nair after his triple ton

[Chakdephatte]

A popular one. Chahal in place of Shami in 2019 semi-final.

[Chakdephatte]

Rohit in place of Rahane in first two tests in South Africa in 2018. (Rahane was a good player then).

[nevada]

2 hours ago, express bowling said:

A semi-fit and old Ishant was preferred over an in-form Siraj in the WTC Final 2021.

 

Big mistake !

 

Benching the red hot Siraj for Ishant killed my interest in the final even before it began! And Thakur wasn't picked too. We lost the final before it started. 

Edited December 12, 2021 by nevada

[Chakdephatte]

9 minutes ago, nevada said:

Benching the red hot Siraj for Ishant killed my in the final even before it began! And Thakur wasn't picked too. We lost the final before it started. 

Shami is my favourite bowler since his debut. But I will still say Thakur could have played for him. In those conditions, he was a better pick even though Shami did well there.

Edited December 12, 2021 by Chakdephatte

[R!TTER]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

one of the worst decisions i have ever seen is swapping kyle abbout out for philander due to quota system iirc in 2015 WC semi final. not saying saffers would have won with kyle playing but he was in better form at the time. 

They would've won, quota player had no role in that team! People attack ABD for selfishness but what CSA did to him was beyond pathetic. He lost a chance at everlasting glory to politics, l would quit as well if I were in his shoes! He was wrongly vilified by many including his fans 

[jusarrived]

Rohit and Dahwan ahead of Vijay and Pujara in WI

Dhawan ahead of KL in SA 

 

Rohit ahead of Rahane in SA 

[neel roy]

5 hours ago, Suhaan said:

Just a normal Kohli decision,

Would have been surprised if he had played Siraj actually

Playing Saha over Pant in home conditions, that's another gem from kaptaan

Kohli

The decision to play Saha over Pant in the day night adelaide test, after pant scored a 80 ball 100 in the practice match just before the test takes the cake.. 

 

Playing Karn Sharma over Ashwin in the 2014 Adelaide test also was the weirdest decision ever though he was the acting captain then and batted brilliantly. India should have won that match 

 

 

[Vijy]

1 hour ago, neel roy said:

Kohli

The decision to play Saha over Pant in the day night adelaide test, after pant scored a 80 ball 100 in the practice match just before the test takes the cake.. 

 

Playing Karn Sharma over Ashwin in the 2014 Adelaide test also was the weirdest decision ever though he was the acting captain then and batted brilliantly. India should have won that match 

 

 

karn bowled pretty badly, but got 4 wkts in the match. it was indeed a bad decision, but I find it rather funny that he did better than yasir shah and some other bowlers.

[AKane]

I always wondered about Dinesh Mongia in the 2003 WC.....What exactly was his role in the team? Bowler? Batsman?

 

Despite Zaheer Khan (and his almost drunken first over) - Harbhajan claiming Gilchrist and Hayden had tapped down the run rate a bit. Kumble might - might have helped there. Mongia did not at all and part timers like Sachin bowled like crap.

[Jay]

4 hours ago, R!TTER said:

They would've won, quota player had no role in that team! People attack ABD for selfishness but what CSA did to him was beyond pathetic. He lost a chance at everlasting glory to politics, l would quit as well if I were in his shoes! He was wrongly vilified by many including his fans 

Abbott wasn't a great odi bowler though. 

[vvvslaxman]

You can alternatively change the title to "Number of careers Rahane ruined"

[R!TTER]

32 minutes ago, Jay said:

Abbott wasn't a great odi bowler though. 

He was great in that WC. Philander was fat, unfit & really a passenger as compared to Kyle.

[R!TTER]

33 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

You can alternatively change the title to "Number of careers Rahane ruined"

Or bloomed under him in 2021, or do we forget the win down under?