India is a cricketing nation where people see cricket as nothing less than a religion. There are tons of domestic tournaments which take place throughout the year and each year, we see a new talent emerging out of nowhere. Most of the young talent comes into the limelight, starts performing consistently, gets an IPL contract and makes his name.

The players keep on waiting for that one single opportunity that could make their career. However, with the amount of talent India have in the domestic circuit and players who are already playing, it is difficult to get an opportunity. Back in 2013, MS Dhoni started the rebuilding phase of Indian cricket as he brought players like Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, etc into the team. With the injection of these youngsters into the team, it was difficult for others to make enough impact to get into the Playing XI.

There are players who have been performing consistently well, but they rarely got chances into the senior team. As a part of the second-string side, the players were among the run-getters and were consistent throughout as well. However, it is not possible to give everyone a chance because of which some players were left out of the squad, despite their brilliant performances.

Here are 5 Indian players who always play for the second-string side but rarely make it to the senior team:

1. Shubman Gill

One of the hottest names going in the Indian domestic circuit is none other than Shubman Gill. The 20-year old has quickly risen to success, thanks to his consistent performances in the domestic circuit. Gill is one of the only few batsmen who have performed in every series, every tournament, every match they played in these last couple of years. His heroics also won India the U19 World Cup back in 2018.

Shubman Gill won the Player of the Series award in 2018 U19 World Cup. Against Pakistan U19, Gill scored a magnificent century which earned him praises from some of the best ever cricketers including Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. He was the most impressive U19 cricket, along with Prithvi Shaw. Last year in August, Gill broke the record of youngest player to score a double century in first-class cricket. He scored 204 runs for India A against West Indies A in 2019.

He earned his maiden call-up for the senior team against New Zealand in January 2019 and also got his maiden test call-up against New Zealand in 2020. However, he had to warm the bench in the test series and did not get a chance to showcase his skills in the top flight. In List-A cricket, the Punjabi sensation has scored close to 2300 runs at an average of 46. The youngster has a lot of cricket in him and it is only the beginning of a promising talent.

2. Manish Pandey

Manish Pandey is one of the most talented youngsters India have in the domestic circuit. However, one would say that he has always been an unlucky bloke because he rarely made it to the Indian senior team. Despite being immensely talented, the Karnataka boy was never consistently given a chance to showcase what he is capable of. He is undoubtedly one of the most consistent batsmen in the domestic circuit.

Pandey first played for the Indian team back in 2015, against Zimbabwe where he played only one match and scored 71 runs. He, however, came into limelight for a while against Australia in Australia, where he scored a brilliant century against them and helped India avoid a whitewash. After that knock, Manish Pandey never really got regular chances in the playing XI and eventually lost his way. Recently, he made a comeback to India’s T20 team against New Zealand, where he performed well.

Manish Pandey was never the first choice for India. He was called into the squad to solve India’s Number 4 problems, but he was not the answer to the problem. Because of that, he did not get the world cup call. In List-A cricket, Manish Pandey has played 161 matches and has scored over 5000 runs at an average of 45. In the time period, he scored 10 centuries and 33 half-centuries.

3. Jalaj Saxena

Another veteran in the list is the boy from Kerala, Jalaj Saxena, who has always performed consistently, but never enough to ring the selectors’ doorbell. He is one of the only few all-rounders who have performed consistently for years in the domestic matches. Jalaj Saxena is undoubtedly one of the most unlucky players to have ever embraced the game. The 33-year old has never represented India in an international match, even though he deserved to do so.

Jalaj Saxena achieved his peak in 2015, however, he was just unlucky to have never made it to the senior team. Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja had already cemented their spot in the national team and it was impossible for anyone to dethrone them. Back in 2012-13, Saxena had a dream Ranji tournament where he scored 769 runs at a whopping average of 70. He made it to India A squad and performed exceptionally well too, but he could not keep up the form enough to make Jadeja and Ashwin fight for the spot.

In the recently concluded Deodhar Trophy, Jalaj Saxena was impossible to pick as he was the leading wicket-taker of the tournament with 10 wickets and an average of just 10. In first-class cricket, Jalaj Saxena has taken 326 wickets at an average of 27. Furthermore, he has also scored over 6,000 runs in first-class cricket and completed the double of 6,000 runs and 300 wickets.

4. Ishan Porel

Another youngster who has been a consistent performer for the second-string team but did not make it to the senior team is Ishan Porel. So far, Porel has never been named in the senior team squad but has been consistent for other teams ever since his U19 days. There were days when India did not produce bowlers as frequently as they do now. In the domestic circuit, India have a lot of pacers who are consistently performing well, making it difficult for the selectors to make a decision.

Porel first came into the limelight in the Under 19 World Cup, especially in the match against Pakistan U19 where he ended up with 4 wickets. India bowled Pakistan out for 69 and qualified for the finals and went on to beat Australia to lift the U19 World Cup. Ever since then, he has only looked forward and not backwards. However, the only thing which leaves him out of the senior team is the fact that India have a top-class bowling line up and he is so far back in the line.

Ishan Porel has already found himself an IPL team as he was picked up by Kings XI Punjab ahead of the IPL 2020. In the recently concluded Deodhar Trophy, he performed exceptionally with the ball as he picked up 9 wickets in just 3 matches at an average of 9. His performance helped him get a call-up against New Zealand A, where he was the leading wicket-taker. He took 8 wickets in 3 matches at an average of 22. He has a long career ahead of him, but he does not seem to be knocking at the doors of selectors anytime soon.

5. Shahbaz Nadeem

Last on the list of players who always play for a second-string side but rarely make it to the senior team is Shahbaz Nadeem, who has represented India in just 1 test match and was later forgotten. He is one of the only few left-handed spinners who made a significant impact in domestic tournaments. He was also a part of the U19 World Cup squad back in the day, but he played only one match in the World Cup. He hit his prime in 2015 as he took over 50 wickets in the Ranji Trophy season.

In the 2016-17 season of Ranji Trophy, he again bagged 56 wickets and was the leading wicket-taker of the season. However, despite taking over 100 wickets in 2 Ranji seasons, Shahbaz Nadeem did not get the test call-up especially because Ashwin and Jadeja were cemented in the national team. In the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy season, he took 18 wickets in just 4 games for Jharkhand.

Shahbaz Nadeem has also played for Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League and has been a part of the squad since 2012. His opening season was a dream season for him and he was also nominated for the IPL Rising Star of the Year Award. He was called-up for Indian squad after he was once again in the news as he recorded the best figures in List A cricket when he took 8 wickets in the innings. He finally made his debut in 2019 but was again forgotten after one match, despite his decent performance in the match. He is undoubtedly born in the wrong era.