3 Unlucky Current Players Who Might Never Play Tests For India

We’ve had 9 cricketers debut for India in Tests since the start of 2024, with Anshul Kamboj being the latest of the nine, receiving his cap yesterday before day one of the Old Trafford Test. 

All these players, including Kamboj, have earned their way to India caps — some more than the others — but there are dozens of other domestic veterans who might never end up playing a Test for India, for no fault of their own. We look at three such individuals who have been incredibly unlucky, and might end their careers without playing a Test.

Akshay Wadkar

With Rishabh Pant’s fracture ruling him out of the fifth Test, India had the opportunity to call-up Vidarbha’s Akshay Wadkar, who has been the best wicketkeeper batter in domestic cricket in the country for a ridiculously long time now. 

He averages 48.92 in first-class cricket and has scored close to 4,000 runs in red-ball cricket, delivering multiple titles for Vidarbha. Yet it’s Tamil Nadu’s Narayan Jagadeesan, not Wadkar, who will reportedly be called up as Pant’s replacement for the fifth Test. 

With Wadkar so far down the pecking order, it feels like there’s a very good chance he might never play Test cricket for the country.

Jalaj Saxena

Arguably the unluckiest player to never play Tests for India. 

Jalaj Saxena, who bowls off-spin, has 484 wickets at an average of 25, and to go along with that over 7,000 runs and 14 centuries at an average over 33. He is, simply put, one of the greatest bowling all-rounders the country has produced. 

But his entire career has coincided with the careers of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, the two greatest bowling all-rounders in Test history. And now India have another (seemingly) generational talent in Washington Sundar, who also bowls off-spin and bats sensationally. 

Saxena, the perfect example of a right man at the wrong time. 

Aditya Sarwate 

Imagine taking 310 wickets at an average of 19.47 and never playing Test cricket for your country. That’s the life of Aditya Sarwate, who is pretty much in the same boat as Saxena. He is also an all-rounder, with him averaging 26 with the bat in hand. 

You can make the argument that Sarwate deserved to play Tests sometime during the pandemic, perhaps ahead of someone like Axar Patel, who had much inferior numbers but was preferred by the management due to his profile being similar to Jadeja. 

Can’t complain about that call in hindsight, though, Axar proved to be a revelation in home Tests. Shahbaz Nadeem got a couple of Tests to his name too, and Sarwate might reckon that he should have played those games. 

Now 35, the dream of playing a Test seems all but over for the left-arm spinner.