Follow UsEngland has historically been seen as a dream destination of sorts for pace bowlers, but it’s weirdly enough been a country where most Indian pacers have struggled. It’s in fact a place which has seen careers end, with several established names playing their last ever Test for India here.
At Headingley, could we have seen Shardul Thakur play his last ever Test for India and join the list below?
RP Singh had an underwhelming Test career, in which he played 14 games, averaging 42, with the last of his Tests came at The Oval in 2011. He played regularly between 2006 and 2008, and then was brought back three years later as a replacement for the injured Zaheer Khan on the 2011 tour.
RP Singh registered figures of 0/118 in that game, and never played for India again after that.
Praveen Kumar only played six Tests in his career, and three of them came in England in the 2011 tour. He, in fact, took a 5-wicket haul at Lord’s and enjoyed a pretty good series, taking 15 wickets at an average of 29.00.
However, he sustained a long-term injury after that, and a combination of injuries plus serious disciplinary issues saw him never return to Test cricket again.
In his 27-match Test career, S Sreesanth struggled the most in England, where he averaged 48.88 across six Tests and 10 innings.
Incidentally, his last ever Test was also at The Oval, the same as RP Singh. Sreesanth took 3/123 but never played Test cricket for India after that. It was a forgettable tour for him overall, as he averaged 61 and had an economy of 4.4.
Domestic behemoth Pankaj Singh played two Tests in the England tour in 2014, and never played Test cricket for India again.
It was a luckless couple of games for Pankaj, with plenty of catches going down. He finished with series figures of 2/292, averaging 146.00 while going at nearly 4 runs per over. The Manchester Test in 2014 was the last game he played for India in any format.