Failed players that surprised you

[maniac]

True!!! He cannot be called as "Great" test match bowler.. However, Malinga is a very good ODI bowler and extremely valuable T20 bowler. He will very well turn in to ATG ODI bowler and perhaps be considered as the greatest T20 bowler before he retires.

That doesn't even mean anything for a cricketer....He is a good ODI bowler...When we can label someone like Yuvraj then Malinga can definetely be considered one given he had enorous talent... Someone mentioned fleming and mark waugh----they had more than a decent ODI and Test careers so they cannot be classified as failures by any means....Just because you are not SRT or a Lara doesn't make you a failure.

[ganeshran]

Malinga was never going to be a great Test match bowler anyway. His most potent weapon the yorker would be easily neutralized by batsmen lowering their backlift and blocking them till eternity. a bowler like Malinga depends on either batsmen going after him or never having faced him before to pick up wickets Even before retiring he played 2-3 tests in 3 years

[saneindian]

Agarkar in tests. For someone who had the ability to move the ball both ways at a good pace and with a reasonable control, he should ideally have done better in test matches. Not to be. If only around 98-99, he had fulfilled his early potential as a bowler in test cricket, who knows Srinath's career would have lasted a little longer.

[ganeshran]

Agarkar suffered from the Australia effect. After every tour to australia we get a pace bowler who does great there and we are conned into thinking that he is the future great bowler we are all waiting for. Somehow they just dont fulfill the potential. It was Agarkar, Pathan and Ishant too

[BeautifulGame]

Someone mentioned fleming and mark waugh----they had more than a decent ODI and Test careers so they cannot be classified as failures by any means....Just because you are not SRT or a Lara doesn't make you a failure.

They arent failures but certainly failed to live up to their potential.

[The Dark Horse]

Irfan, Sreesanth(although hope he'll improve), I remember a guy called Reon King from Windies. Also RS Sodhi, Dinesh Karthik(who plays way below his potential) Edit: Add Vijay Bharadwaj to the list

[The Dark Horse]

:facepalm: Since when Shane was considered as failed player?

Bond could not overcome his injuries, otherwise would have been an all time great :((

[Asim]

Basit Ali... He himself was not a fail rather a rare talent, convincing stroke maker, dashing and fearless but somehow cudnt remain a part of team and was able to play only for 3 years...

[Tiger80]

Bond could not overcome his injuries' date=' otherwise would have been an all time great :(([/quote'] It was Very difficult for him ,in order to an all time great you need to be in great team.A team Like NZ could hardly offer you anythin******y Flower till this date has best average in tests among keepers yet very few people remember him

[Tiger80]

Malinga was never going to be a great Test match bowler anyway. His most potent weapon the yorker would be easily neutralized by batsmen lowering their backlift and blocking them till eternity. a bowler like Malinga depends on either batsmen going after him or never having faced him before to pick up wickets Even before retiring he played 2-3 tests in 3 years

Malinga picked 101 wickets in 30 test matches with strike rate of 51.5 which is considered as good .He could had developed other weapons too .His bouncer is also not bad .He played only 2-3 tests because of knee injury .Malinga even said that it is painful for him to climb stairs in his home .malinga could have been very handy in sub continent

[the don]

Malinga picked 101 wickets in 30 test matches with strike rate of 51.5 which is considered as good .He could had developed other weapons too .His bouncer is also not bad .He played only 2-3 tests because of knee injury .Malinga even said that it is painful for him to climb ladders in his home .malinga could have been very handy in sub continent

:hmmm: why does he climb ladders at home ??

[ganeshran]

Malinga picked 101 wickets in 30 test matches with strike rate of 51.5 which is considered as good .He could had developed other weapons too .His bouncer is also not bad .He played only 2-3 tests because of knee injury .Malinga even said that it is painful for him to climb ladders in his home .malinga could have been very handy in sub continent

The issue was his unconventional bowling action and knee condition prevented him from being able to bowl very long spells which is a must in Test cricket. Also the main Malinga variations that he uses is his yorker and a well disguised slower ball. The appreciable thing about Malinga is his accuracy which is amazing given his low arm bowling action. I dont know if its a coincidence but most of the bowlers with slingy low arm actions have not cut it that much in tests with injury problems plaguing them throughout their careers.

[Tiger80]

:hmmm: why does he climb ladders at home ??

I mean stairs :haha:

[jairamesh]

Aus: Shane Lee (Brett's brother, and ready made copy of Tom Moody) Ban: Ashraful (The pain and wait continues) NZ: Geoff Allot (esp after the '99 WC) Eng: Ravi Bopara (cont. in the foot steps of Hick, Ramprakesh etc., def. wont see him now) SA: Ngam (let down by genetic bone disorder, "black thunder", 145+, great raves) Zim: Taibu (though has had a decent career, but always felt he had more to offer) Kenya: Collins Obuya (grabbed headlines with his leggies, but now plays as a batsman only) WI: Tino Best, Pedro Collins, J Lawson, N McLean, F Rose (the conveyor belt never stopped!) Ind: Robin Singh, Bangar, Sodhi, Irfan,.. (elusive search for fast bowler all-rounder continues..) Pak: Abdul Razzaq (he should have matched Imran Khan, esp in the batting department) SL: A Mendis (sadly will never reach the extremely high standards he set in his first few years) Canada: John Davison (special mention)

[Tiger80]

The issue was his unconventional bowling action and knee condition prevented him from being able to bowl very long spells which is a must in Test cricket. Also the main Malinga variations that he uses is his yorker and a well disguised slower ball. The appreciable thing about Malinga is his accuracy which is amazing given his low arm bowling action. I dont know if its a coincidence but most of the bowlers with slingy low arm actions have not cut it that much in tests with injury problems plaguing them throughout their careers.

Good points But here we are discussing failed players which surprised us and as one of the deadliest ODI and T20 bowlers Malinga is definately a top contender of Failed test player who could have become world's greatest fast bowler in all forms .Why he get injured or what are the causes are irrelevant here,they are applicable on most of fast bowlers which many people are discussing here.

[maniac]

Aus: Shane Lee (Brett's brother, and ready made copy of Tom Moody) Ban: Ashraful (The pain and wait continues) NZ: Geoff Allot (esp after the '99 WC) Eng: Ravi Bopara (cont. in the foot steps of Hick, Ramprakesh etc., def. wont see him now) SA: Ngam (let down by genetic bone disorder, "black thunder", 145+, great raves) Zim: Taibu (though has had a decent career, but always felt he had more to offer) Kenya: Collins Obuya (grabbed headlines with his leggies, but now plays as a batsman only) WI: Tino Best, Pedro Collins, J Lawson, N McLean, F Rose (the conveyor belt never stopped!) Ind: Robin Singh, Bangar, Sodhi, Irfan,.. (elusive search for fast bowler all-rounder continues..) Pak: Abdul Razzaq (he should have matched Imran Khan, esp in the batting department) SL: A Mendis (sadly will never reach the extremely high standards he set in his first few years) Canada: John Davison (special mention)

Robin Singh is a surprise all right but in the opposite way,the partial success he had after making a comback in his mid 30's was pretty surprising. Sodhi and Bangar were never good enough at the international level Some good names there...I would add Jacob Oram,Azhar Mahmood in failed all rounders category who looked to have much more to offer initially and looked test match material. Richie Richardson is another name that deserves a mention...his decline as a player coincided with WI decline in the 90's and today is almost ignored. Surprised no one mentioned Mohd.Kaif yet...Him and Yuvi were supposed to be our future in all formats around 2002 and today Yuvi is a ODI specialist and Kaif is not even in our 2nd sting X1

[jairamesh]

^^^^^ Agree about Robin Singh to a extent, but always felt his batting explosiveness never came to the fore (probably due too many situations where he found himself trying to rebuild for India after dearth of wickets) Can't believe I forgot Azhar Mahmood, what a start to his Test career, but never lived up to it. Though what India would do to have one of Mahmood or Razaak!!! I actually thought Kaif was captaincy material especially after that Lords Final, incredible chase!, Kaif and Yuvraj were awesome, how times have changed, and both never fulfilled their debut greatness.

[sreej]

What about Sultan Zarawani of the UAE? He could take a bouncer to the head and play on. He also got Sachin out that one time.

[vamos_rafa]

^^^^^ Agree about Robin Singh to a extent, but always felt his batting explosiveness never came to the fore (probably due too many situations where he found himself trying to rebuild for India after dearth of wickets) Can't believe I forgot Azhar Mahmood, what a start to his Test career, but never lived up to it. Though what India would do to have one of Mahmood or Razaak!!! I actually thought Kaif was captaincy material especially after that Lords Final, incredible chase!, Kaif and Yuvraj were awesome, how times have changed, and both never fulfilled their debut greatness.

Good point that :two_thumbs_up:. He was the captain of the U-19 wining WC squad as well. Was always calm and collected, but maybe ability wise, he just was not good enough,

[The Dark Horse]

Forgot to mention Balaji, he was a consistant 135+ bowler but had back problems and is never back to his best again:((Vyeh50MuqfQ&feature=related