Playing in the ICC World Cup is the dream of any cricketer. Obviously, when he is selected in the World Cup squad, it is the most memorable day of his life. But sometimes the luck of some cricketers leaves them at the last moment. That is, it happens with many players that if they get selected in the team of the World Cup, but they do not get a chance to play in this great match. Talking about Indian cricketers, in 44 years of World Cup history, there have been 10 players who were selected in the World Cup team, but they never played in the World Cup.
The ICC Cricket World Cup was first played in 1975. India included 12 players in its team for this World Cup. All 12 players of the team captained by Venkataraghavan got a chance to play. But this did not happen in 1979. This time there were 13 players in the Indian team. This time also only 12 players from India got a chance to play in the World Cup. Bharat Reddy, who was in the team, returned home without playing in the World Cup. In this way, he became the first cricketer in the country who went to play the World Cup, but his record book does not include a single match of the World Cup.
The year 1983 is considered to be the turning point for Indian cricket. India won the World Cup this year under the captaincy of Kapil Dev. There were 14 players in this team. But only 13 players got the chance to play. This time Sunil Valson continued to grace the Indian bench throughout the World Cup. He didn’t get a chance to play. Incidentally, Sunil Valson never played even after that. He is such a cricketer from India, who was once included in the World Cup team. Despite this, he has not played a single international match.
In 1987, 1992 and 1996, every member of the Indian cricket team also got a chance to play in the World Cup. But in 1999, once again Amay Khurasia returned without playing despite being a part of the World Cup team. After this, in the 2003 World Cup, Sanjay Bangar and Parthiv Patel returned without playing the World Cup.
Irfan Pathan and Dinesh Karthik are the players who did not get the opportunity to play in the 2007 World Cup. Irfan Pathan never got a chance to play the World Cup again. But Dinesh Karthik persisted in making his dream come true. He has once again made a place in the World Cup team after 12 years. Now it remains to be seen whether he gets a place in the playing XI of captain Virat Kohli.
Apart from this, three players in the 2015 World Cup – Axar Patel, Ambati Rayudu and Stuart Binny could not join the game even after being selected in the team. However, this time these three did not get a place in the World Cup team. Ambati Rayudu was expected to be selected during the team selection, but Vijay Shankar was given a chance in his place.