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Cricketers who underachieved

Sangakarra - according to his father
 
Afridi

Guy had a lot of potential but just didn't use his brain. Should have ended up with much better averages than he did.
 
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street cricketer said:
VVS Laxman
Murali Vijay
Mark Waugh
Mike Hussey
Chris Rodgers
Ian Bell
Shoaib Akhtar
Shane Bond
Jesse Ryder
Darren Bravo.
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Unfair to mention Bond. He was unlucky with injuries, didn't underachieve due to his own short-comings.
 
There is no greater underachiever than Mohammed Ashraful. He had superb hand eye coordination, elegant stroke play, he would improvise in the pre-T20 era. Decent footwork too.
 
Tendulkar and Wasim Akram. Both could have achieved far more than what they eventually did. (quite scary if you think about it )
 
Sehwag in ODI cricket has to be on such a list.

Why did he average only 35?
 
Mamoon said:
Unfair to mention Bond. He was unlucky with injuries, didn't underachieve due to his own short-comings.
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Yeah I mentioned in that aspect. He underachieved big time due to his injuries. Since the OP didn't particularly mention the reasons, I included him. In a way, Michael Clarke as well. He could've had an even better test career if not for his chronic back injury.
 
Varun said:
Sehwag in ODI cricket has to be on such a list.

Why did he average only 35?
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Massive underachiever. Should have scored 30+ ODI hundreds.

Gilchrist underachieved too. Sure he was brilliant in World Cup finals, but he should have averaged 40+ and scored a lot more hundreds.
 
Can people who wish to post on this thread put in 2 mins more and say WHY they feel someone has underachieved?
 
Irfan pathan, sreesanth, I have never seen that bolt upright seam from anyone , deffo under achievers extremely talented both ,pathan could have been a handy lower order bat plus a terrific swing bowler with lively pace and I have never seen bolt upright seam position like sreesanth, for all his antics, sreesanth was a wonderful talent a pacy guy who could swing it both ways,if not for his action would have been the leader of the pack right now, other name comes to my mind is wasim jaffar.
 
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Mamoon said:
How is Cook an underachiever? He didn't have the range of shots to be a successful Limited Overs player, but he is a modern day great in Tests and still has many years left.

Kohli isn't an underachiever in Tests either. He has simply overachieved in Limited Overs due to which he appears to be an underachiever in Tests, since people end up comparing his stature in Limited Overs to his stature in Tests.
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Cook has shown his talent many times but he is not always consistent...That is the reason he hasn't achieved average of 50...Cook's temparament and his excellent technique against spinners indicates that he is more than that his average suggests..Clearly underachiver for me..

Talking about Kohli, like Cook he has also problems with consistency in tests....No doubt he is one of the greats in ODIs but yet he hasn't done justice to his talent in tests...
 
Tendulkar by 10 centuries in Tests and 5 centuries in one dayers. For the talent he had and the period of time he played I feel he underachieved from 2004.
 
Mamoon said:
Ian Bell is an underachiever. Sublime technique and a lot of natural ability, but he is proof of the fact that top level cricket is a game of character more than anything else.

If he had the character of some of the lesser talented players, he would have been an ATG.
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Definately an underachiever
 
street cricketer said:
VVS Laxman
Murali Vijay
Mark Waugh
Mike Hussey
Chris Rodgers
Ian Bell
Shoaib Akhtar
Shane Bond
Jesse Ryder
Darren Bravo.
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Shane Bond is not an underachiever...He is infact one of the unluckiest player to play the game...He was unlucky to play very few games but he performed extremely well in his short carrier..
 
street cricketer said:
VVS Laxman
Murali Vijay
Mark Waugh
Mike Hussey
Chris Rodgers
Ian Bell
Shoaib Akhtar
Shane Bond
Jesse Ryder
Darren Bravo.
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Vayuu said:
Irfan pathan, sreesanth, I have never seen that bolt upright seam from anyone , deffo under achievers extremely talented both ,pathan could have been a handy lower order bat plus a terrific swing bowler with lively pace and I have never seen bolt upright seam position like sreesanth, for all his antics, sreesanth was a wonderful talent a pacy guy who could swing it both ways,if not for his action would have been the leader of the pack right now, other name comes to my mind is wasim jaffar.
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AamirWarraich said:
Wasim should have had over 500 Test wickets.
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Varun said:
Sehwag in ODI cricket has to be on such a list.

Why did he average only 35?
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Tusker said:
Tendulkar and Wasim Akram. Both could have achieved far more than what they eventually did. (quite scary if you think about it )
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Executioner said:
There is no greater underachiever than Mohammed Ashraful. He had superb hand eye coordination, elegant stroke play, he would improvise in the pre-T20 era. Decent footwork too.
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Nice posts
 
Darren Lehman. To me he was one of the best batsman in the Australian team to watch. His shots were so crisp and he made batting seem easy. Probably unlucky to play in the era he did and hence underachieved.
 
Ian Bell
Moyo
KP (odis)
Inzi
Vvs
Ryan Harris (this was due to injuries which weren't his fault he would have achieved more had he not been so injury prone.)
Muhammad Asif
Irfan Parham
Sehwag (odis)
Ashraful
Umar Akmal (so far)
Ramprakash
Saqlain (tests)
Ryder
Wasim (tests)
Inzi
Narine (tests)
 
Varun said:
Sehwag in ODI cricket has to be on such a list.

Why did he average only 35?
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Mamoon said:
Massive underachiever. Should have scored 30+ ODI hundreds.

Gilchrist underachieved too. Sure he was brilliant in World Cup finals, but he should have averaged 40+ and scored a lot more hundreds.
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Gilly scored at SR of 96 and Sehwag scored at SR of 104. Averaging higher than 35 would have been difficult with that kind of SR.
 
AB Devilliers and Wasim in the test format. Both didn't do justice to the talent in the test format despite having every trick in their bags.
 
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This isn't random Bump.


Since Mamoon mentioned Qadir in another thread so I wanted opinion of Senior Posters.

I haven't watched with Bowl during his playing days but I watched him bowl in 2-3 friendly matches live on Tv when he was touching age of 50.

I just could not believe my eyes. He was bowling with so much precision at that age. It looked as if its his playing days. His leggies were turning miles. He wasn't bowling anything short and flippers, Zooter, googly everything was on show. He looked class apart.

I just don't get it that why Abdul Qadir underachieved in International Cricket ?
 
Alec Stewart

What a batsman that guy was!

I was tempted to say Aravinda De Silva but he at least won a world cup.

History will not remember him for anything other than his longevity but he was a fantastic batsman. Only those who have watched him bat know that.

His 170 against Wasim and Waqar in 1996 at Headingley was the finest display of stroke making.
 
Michael Bevan in Tests
Ian Bell
Ross Taylor(shouldve achieved more in Tests IMO)
 
TalentSpotterPk said:
This isn't random Bump.


Since Mamoon mentioned Qadir in another thread so I wanted opinion of Senior Posters.

I haven't watched with Bowl during his playing days but I watched him bowl in 2-3 friendly matches live on Tv when he was touching age of 50.

I just could not believe my eyes. He was bowling with so much precision at that age. It looked as if its his playing days. His leggies were turning miles. He wasn't bowling anything short and flippers, Zooter, googly everything was on show. He looked class apart.

I just don't get it that why Abdul Qadir underachieved in International Cricket ?
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A lot of denied LB's on the front foot.
 
TalentSpotterPk said:
Don't you think that this long stride Lbw's not given continued almost until the end of Career's of Murali & Warne ? But they had splendid Test & Odi records despite the same rule.
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Camerawork, neutral umpires and just the standards were far better in their time.
 
Cook is surely not an underachiever. Had he played in some other era, he would be averaging less than mid 40s.The quality of pace bowling is below par in this era.

KP was the one who underachieved massively. He could bat against any attack and against any kind of bowling(except may be left arm spinners which are rare) but was heavily inconsistent and with his poor attitude ended up as massive underachiever. He deserved to be in top tier league( a league ahead of Kallis/Dravid).

AB in tests definitely an underachiever. But he has always lacked a bit of patience and temperament and hence would always have went on to become a superior odi player than a test player.
 
Reading some of the posts above, its evident that underachievement is has a different meaning for different people. Labelling people like Akram, Gilchrist or Younis as underachievers is rather unfair. Yes Akram could've taken 500 but his failure to do so cant be attributed to his lack of willingness or performance. It was more a matter of Pakistan not playing enough tests.

Carl Hooper, for me is the epitome of underachievement. On the rare days when his mind seemed to be 100% in the game he could brutalize the best of attacks with utmost ease and elegance. Unfortunately such days were rare. Another name mentioned earlier in this thread who was definitely a massive underachiever was Aravinda De Silva. For Pakistan, my pick would be Mohammad Asif. I know that he cant exactly be labelled an underachiever given his performances, I still feel he could've achieved a lot more. I'd even say that we never got to see his best. One of the greatest wastes of cricketing talent, bar none. But then such is the nature of genius, without direction and perseverance it can often be self destructive.
 
1st name came in mind is Shahid Afridi who can do a lot better than he did but still a Boom Boom Super Star.
 
Mohinder Amarnath: played only 69 Tests and scored only 4,378 runs. With his talent he should have done more of both. Being dropped by selectors dampened his career. Still, was instrumental in India's breakthrough 1983 WC win, with MoM performances in the India's last 2 games (the semi and the final).

Manoj Prabhakar: Could swing the ball a long way and opened the batting too. Played only 39 Tests. In today's India he would have been a star and played 50 Tests by age 25, but back then the system did not nurture and develop talent. Sad end to his international career when he got hammered bowling in the rain with a wet ball.
 
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Inzi, could have been greatest pakistani batman in all formats and one of the gretest middle order batsman to have played as he had the talent but the appetite for food and resting stopped him
 
Napa said:
Sandip Patil: A batsman who was ahead of his time in terms of being able to attack bowlers. Would fit in perfectly in the modern ODI and T20 game. In the 1983 WC semis, he scored a 51 at a S/R of 159. No other batsman for either team had a S/R even half his S/R:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/wc1983/engine/match/65088.html
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kris srikanth and sandip patel were way ahead of their time. would have been billionaires in the ipl era.
 
Carl Hooper - had the shots but was so frustrating in the ways he'd get out. He only really maximised his potential when he was made captain.
 
Afridi does come to mind.

Excellent bowling all-rounder in LOIs once his bowling was prioritized. Why his batting wasn't as smart as his bowling? not sure, but that's where i feel there was underachievement as he was a talented batsman. Some of his better paced innings when he wasn't going hell for leather, were proof of this - they were just far too sporadic though..
 
lara, Inzy, Jayawardene and Cook are underachievers?

I'm scared to ask what you think someoen achieving their potential is?

An underachiever would be someone like Dale Steyn in ODIs, although he was shielded from the format a lot, the same could be said of Philander.

I'd add in Mushy, a truly world class spinner who doesn't have the upper tier numbers that someone of his skill and intelligence should have. Then again, I guess most spinners in those days averaged around 30-35 and sub 30 averages for a spinner were very rare, so maybe I'm falling into the same trap as you.
 
Abdul Razzaq, loved the guy, but he should have paid more attention to his fitness.

The guy had pace and always had a brain.

Controversial point im about to make but i think when you account for both bowling and batting, AR had more natural ability than Afridi
 
dildildalwalla said:
lara, Inzy, Jayawardene and Cook are underachievers?

I'm scared to ask what you think someoen achieving their potential is?

An underachiever would be someone like Dale Steyn in ODIs, although he was shielded from the format a lot, the same could be said of Philander.

I'd add in Mushy, a truly world class spinner who doesn't have the upper tier numbers that someone of his skill and intelligence should have. Then again, I guess most spinners in those days averaged around 30-35 and sub 30 averages for a spinner were very rare, so maybe I'm falling into the same trap as you.
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Everyone is using their own definition of underachievement. Ideally it should be someone who showed a lot of promise but had middling or below average career stats. There is no way that players like Mahela and Cook who are amongst the top batsman to ever have played the game can be termed underachievers unless one assumes they had Bradmanesque potential which they failed to realize. In fact some of the players being mentioned here are over achievers imo (Younis Khan). As for Mushy, having watched him play for most of his career, imo he can't be termed an underachiever on the basis of potential.
 
pakistanigoneaussie said:
then off course Mohammad Sami, had everything but a brain, not even Imran could save him
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I remember back in those days as well Imran wasn't that active with regards to cricket and, if my memory servers me right, it was his first interview on the game after many years during which he immediately brought up Mohammad Sami and called how we could potentially be one of the greatest bowlers from the country. :)))

Everyone had, and even to this day many (which is now :facepalm: worthy) have so much faith in Sami its unbelievable. Sad that he couldn't be even 10% of the bowler we all thought he would become when he first came on during the 2000s
 
ahmedwaqas92 said:
I remember back in those days as well Imran wasn't that active with regards to cricket and, if my memory servers me right, it was his first interview on the game after many years during which he immediately brought up Mohammad Sami and called how we could potentially be one of the greatest bowlers from the country. :)))

Everyone had, and even to this day many (which is now :facepalm: worthy) have so much faith in Sami its unbelievable. Sad that he couldn't be even 10% of the bowler we all thought he would become when he first came on during the 2000s
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i know, i always joke that Imran coming out of hibernation to save is the cricketeting equivalent of Obi Wan coming out of exile only to find luke to be brain dead
 
Irfan Pathan
Ajay Jadeja
S Chanderpaul
G Thorpe
G Hick
A Sohail
S Akhtar
D Morrison
D Fleming
 
Unbiased-Fan said:
He was on his way to be ATG player but unfortunately cancer happened.He was only 30 then.
With so much talent he had, average of 36 is nothing.
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Yeah but that wasn't his fault. Still think he was one of the great players in ODIs and did win player of the tournament award in the 2011 world cup.
 
Graham Hick would be in the top 5 a beast @ county level but just couldn’t get out of 1st gear st international level same for Hafeez if only he batted @4/5 …
 
Stephen Fleming: Good captain but only started being a really good batsman in the last 2-3 years of his career.

Jesse Ryder. Nothing more to say.
 
Mohammed Sami tops the list. Piyush Chawla, Irfan Pathan, Carl Hooper, Nathan Astle, and Freddie Flintoff come to mind.
 
Someone made a beautiful thread about him on Twitter so he came to my mind...

Jesse Ryder

What a talent he was! So ahead of his time and so naturally gifted. It's a shame his personal demons always seemed to follow him throughout his career. Could have fit into that 2015 New Zealand side like a glove and had memorable career under the captaincy of McCullum. Sadly it wasn't to be.
 
1) Ab De Villers( T20 International)
2) Steve Smith (ODI)
3) Joe Root (Odi)
4) Virat Kohli (Test)
5) David Warner (Test)
6) Younis Khan (Odi)
 
Robin Uthappa
Yusuf Pathan
Asim Kamal (hope the Pakistanis remember him)
Ajinkya Rahane
Kevin Pietersen
Andrew Flintoff
 
harshjoshi87 said:
Robin Uthappa
Yusuf Pathan
Asim Kamal (hope the Pakistanis remember him)
Ajinkya Rahane
Kevin Pietersen
Andrew Flintoff
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KP didn't underachieve. Controversy is one thing but as long as he was active in terms of match count be didnt underachieve one bit.

He won England a t20 world cup amd could have won them an actual world cup of they trusted and persisted with him.

Was a decent odi and test cricketer as well.
 
mominsaigol said:
KP didn't underachieve. Controversy is one thing but as long as he was active in terms of match count be didnt underachieve one bit.

He won England a t20 world cup amd could have won them an actual world cup of they trusted and persisted with him.

Was a decent odi and test cricketer as well.
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He underachieved, was booted out by Cook & his gang for that Ashes loss in 2015. Played crucial roles in England winning Ashes in 2005 & 2010-11 in Australia, also played a part in beating India in India in 2012-13 series. Could have easily been part of ODI side until 2019 World Cup.
 
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