What's new

Players with potential who suddenly disappeared

Sher Khan

Sher Khan

Local Club Captain
Joined
Jan 17, 2018
Runs
2,407
Throughout my life of watching cricket, I've noticed several cricketers mainly Pakistani ones who suddenly disappeared in thin air despite once being considered as the next big things in International cricket.

Some names I will start of with Adrian Barath, the 19 yr old West Indian who scored a superb century in Australia against one of the All time great bowling attacks. After announcing himself in such superb fashion, he disappeared forever soon after.

Another name is Mukhtar Ahmed. Call him a hack or whatever, but he played match winning knocks against Zimbabwe in Pakistan and shortly after he was discarded and rarely heard of these days.
 
Graeme Cremer. A very good leggie from Zimbabwe.
Andy Blignaut - Could have been a brilliant t20 player.
 
Mukthar Ahmed- call him a hack but he scored runs at a good clip and got dropped for no reason

Usman Shinwari- rightfully got dropped from T20Is due to poor performances but also got dropped from the ODI squad even though he was amazing. Still averages 18 with a 4.94 economy from 17 ODIs. Even got a test debut from solid first class numbers then just disappeared
 
ahmadharis1 said:
Mukthar Ahmed- call him a hack but he scored runs at a good clip and got dropped for no reason

Usman Shinwari- rightfully got dropped from T20Is due to poor performances but also got dropped from the ODI squad even though he was amazing. Still averages 18 with a 4.94 economy from 17 ODIs. Even got a test debut from solid first class numbers then just disappeared
Click to expand...

He's retired from FC cricket due to injuries. Don't know if he's still playing LA.
 
Aviskha Fernando

Charith Asalanka

Another Sri Lankan who scored a century on Test debut vs India in India (in 2017, I cant remember his name)

Shai Hope

Nicholas Pooran
 
Last edited:
Tom Banton too -But I read a long while ago that he got too much fatigue from COVID isolating
 
Bilal Ahmad15 said:
Aviskha Fernando

Charith Asalanka

Another Sri Lankan who scored a century on Test debut vs India in India (in 2017, I cant remember his name)

Shai Hope

Nicholas Pooran
Click to expand...

The four you mentioned are still on the horizon though. Asalanka, Hope and Pooran have been regularly playing for their countries.
 
So many from Pakistan.

Sharjeel Khan
Sohaib Maqsood
Haider Ali (jury is still out on him tbh, if he can make a come back)
Zulqarnain Haider
Mohammad Zahid in the 90s (said to be faster than Shoaib Akhtar as well. Highlights of his Vs Brian Lara iirc on YouTube)
Mukhtar Ahmed

All of these guys showed promise initially and then disappeared.
 
Their was a t20 specialist guy called krishmar santokie for WI used to bowl dead accurate Yorkers and lovely slower balls. He disappeared as well despite performing brilliantly.
 
Suleiman said:
So many from Pakistan.

Sharjeel Khan
Sohaib Maqsood
Haider Ali (jury is still out on him tbh, if he can make a come back)
Zulqarnain Haider
Mohammad Zahid in the 90s (said to be faster than Shoaib Akhtar as well. Highlights of his Vs Brian Lara iirc on YouTube)
Mukhtar Ahmed

All of these guys showed promise initially and then disappeared.
Click to expand...

None of these "suddenly disappeared"

Each was given enough chances and failed to deliver.

In Sharjeel's case he also got involved in corruption.
 
MenInG said:
None of these "suddenly disappeared"

Each was given enough chances and failed to deliver.

In Sharjeel's case he also got involved in corruption.
Click to expand...

For me the disappearance is a figure of speech for players who started off their careers with a flier and then faded into obscurity in international cricket.

Maqsood regressed almost overnight after debuting with 3 back to back 50s Vs SA in the UAE ODI series and his match saving 89 vs SL.

Sharjeel was finally looking like he hit his stride in 2016, self sabotaged and then never recovered to international standard.

Haider was also top class in t20s for a while and then all of a sudden looks completely out of it. He’s young so he can still make it In Sha Allah.
 
Suleiman said:
For me the disappearance is a figure of speech for players who started off their careers with a flier and then faded into obscurity in international cricket.

Maqsood regressed almost overnight after debuting with 3 back to back 50s Vs SA in the UAE ODI series and his match saving 89 vs SL.

Sharjeel was finally looking like he hit his stride in 2016, self sabotaged and then never recovered to international standard.

Haider was also top class in t20s for a while and then all of a sudden looks completely out of it. He’s young so he can still make it In Sha Allah.
Click to expand...

Mukhtar I feel is the one who has gone out of the picture in a big way.
 
Naved Latif.
Alok Kapali.
Corey James Anderson.
Shahzaib Hassan.
Ajantha Mendis.
Adrian Barath.
Steven Finn.

A few names come to mind.
 
What happened to Sadaf Hussain? Last played a professional game of cricket in 2020 when he would have been aged 29 or so.
 
Raza Hasan potentially Pakistan’s best all format spinner banned for 2 years before but now has disappeared completely during what should be his prime as a bowler.
 
MenInG said:
Mukhtar I feel is the one who has gone out of the picture in a big way.
Click to expand...

I heard he is playing in the US and earning good money these days. Great to hear that for him if true. Pakistan's loss.
 
Suleiman said:
For me the disappearance is a figure of speech for players who started off their careers with a flier and then faded into obscurity in international cricket.

Maqsood regressed almost overnight after debuting with 3 back to back 50s Vs SA in the UAE ODI series and his match saving 89 vs SL.

Sharjeel was finally looking like he hit his stride in 2016, self sabotaged and then never recovered to international standard.

Haider was also top class in t20s for a while and then all of a sudden looks completely out of it. He’s young so he can still make it In Sha Allah.
Click to expand...

Never ever remember Haider being top class. He never was. One or two innings maybe, but that doesn’t make it top class. People are taken in by couple of strokes he plays once every 5 innings.
 
Rana naveed was cult figure in old big bash with 6 teams. He suddenly disapperared when bbl came along.
 
hitthestump said:
What happened to Sadaf Hussain? Last played a professional game of cricket in 2020 when he would have been aged 29 or so.
Click to expand...

Wow, that's sad forgot about him. He didn't even get his international debut which he deserved given he'd been dominating domestic for years. He could have easily been tried in tests.

Kind of shows how thankless domestic cricket can be. You can dominate year after year, and just been ignored. And not even well financially compensated for your efforts in domestic either.
 
Najaf Shah. Left arm medium pacer. Played only one game against West Indies in 2008 series in Abu Dhabi. Never got a chance again
 
ads101 said:
Wow, that's sad forgot about him. He didn't even get his international debut which he deserved given he'd been dominating domestic for years. He could have easily been tried in tests.

Kind of shows how thankless domestic cricket can be. You can dominate year after year, and just been ignored. And not even well financially compensated for your efforts in domestic either.
Click to expand...

got selected for a series agaisnt WEst Indies, Waqar Younis for some reason never played him.

Excuse given was that he lacked pace. He was like Abbas, could had been effective, plus he had a height above 6 feet
 
Zulqarnain Haider. That guy literally did disappear.
 
hitthestump said:
What happened to Sadaf Hussain? Last played a professional game of cricket in 2020 when he would have been aged 29 or so.
Click to expand...

He was unplayable on wet, underprepared pitches with the Grays ball but struggled badly with the Kookaburra after the new FC system was introduced.

He averaged 50 and 59 in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in 2019 and 2020.
 
topspin said:
Zulqarnain Haider. That guy literally did disappear.
Click to expand...

he was never good enough. Avg in the 20s got a fluke 88 in England. He would had eventually been exposed. His 88 looked good because out batting was terrible in that series. THe guy was lucky to get a go in the odi team aswell.
 
James Faulkner’s absence from international cricket is certainly notable. He had a significant impact with his all-round abilities and aggressive batting.

What happened to M.Abbas ?
 
not sure if disappear is right, but really thought Anwar Ali + Jamshed Ahmed who demolished India with banana like swing in the U19 final would have gone on to spearhead our bowling for long time.
 
For Pakistan:


- Usman Shinwari
- Rumman Raees (Injuries didn't help)
- Zafar Gohar
- Aamer Yamin
- Bilal Asif
- Mohammad Abbas (Tbf he did played handful games)
- Raza Hasan
- Aizaz Cheema
- Usman Salahuddin
- Umar Amin
- Fawad Alam (Until his comeback)
 
RidiculousMan said:
For Pakistan:


- Usman Shinwari
- Rumman Raees (Injuries didn't help)
- Zafar Gohar
- Aamer Yamin
- Bilal Asif
- Mohammad Abbas (Tbf he did played handful games)
- Raza Hasan
- Aizaz Cheema
- Usman Salahuddin
- Umar Amin
- Fawad Alam (Until his comeback)
Click to expand...
Considering the amount of rubbish bowlers they tried in test matches, its kinda amazing how quickly they discarded Abbas. Especially considering the start he had to his test career. And all he had was a couple of bad series. I think his numbers are still pretty great.

Rumman Raees I thought had some real potential. But his injuries were far too serious unfortunately.

Zafar Gohar is still a very good back-up to have in test matches for Abrar Ahmed.
 
Alot of people mentioned Ajantha Mendis and I am going to go with him too. Never understood what happened to him. He was the OG mystery spinner. Still remember his most famous spell in the Asia Cup final against India in Karachi. He was absolutely unplayable.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
Considering the amount of rubbish bowlers they tried in test matches, its kinda amazing how quickly they discarded Abbas. Especially considering the start he had to his test career. And all he had was a couple of bad series. I think his numbers are still pretty great.

Rumman Raees I thought had some real potential. But his injuries were far too serious unfortunately.

Zafar Gohar is still a very good back-up to have in test matches for Abrar Ahmed.
Click to expand...
I believe the biggest blunder they made was investing on Faheem instead of Aamer. And after years of investment Faheem has not delivered and is now dropped.
 
RidiculousMan said:
I believe the biggest blunder they made was investing on Faheem instead of Aamer. And after years of investment Faheem has not delivered and is now dropped.
Click to expand...
Faheem showed some signs of promise in test matches, which is why I can defend giving him chances. But yes he ended up being a waste of time. Aamer Jamal is still young and can still have a productive career, as long as his workload is managed well. Because of the amount of cricket that is played these days, seam-bowling all-rounders come with even greater injury risks than fast-bowlers.
 
As we are now playing Bangladesh does anyone else remember when Yasir Ali was plucked from obscurity and given a debut in the famous Multan test against Bangladesh?

Inzi was captain and I think Rashid backed the lad. He was from a poor background I believe. It wasn't just his test debut it was his FC debut. I heard Rashid had to buy him spikes!

He bowled well with a bit of zip but wasn't overly threatening. After that match he had a decent FC career but never came close to the national side again
 
Former Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer, who left the game in 2018 to move to the UAE with his family, could be in contention for an international return after recently returning to domestic cricket in Zimbabwe
 
Karun Nair, made a comeback last series but unfortunately didn’t enhance his skills at all.

Will be the only batsman to smack a triple ton against England and just fade away.
 
Never really understand why Asim Kamal, Naved Ul Hassan and Rao Iftikhar were all booted out of the Team in the mid / late 2000’s… all were decent players and certain good for squad rotation

Also unclear why Shinwari and Ehsan Ali did not get more chances. I heard Sinwari joined the Tableeghi Jamat and Ehsan was recently playing in MLC as an American…

Also Mukhtar also vanished after one bad T20 series against Zimbabwe in 2015… Never saw him again

Finally Haris Sohail. Mysteriously vanished after the 2019 WC. I heard he was selected for the England Tour in 2020 but said no due to COVID concerns… but don’t blame him for that at all. Never got closure on this one
 
Ball Blazer said:
Former Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer, who left the game in 2018 to move to the UAE with his family, could be in contention for an international return after recently returning to domestic cricket in Zimbabwe
Click to expand...
It's crazy how many international cricketers a bunch of farmers with a love for the game can produce. White Zimbabweans probably never numbered much more than 200,000 and had dropped to 50,000 by 2000. they up their with new zealand for being the most talented cricketers per capita. a proper system, economy and a population which didnt emmigrate and zimbabwe would have been a mid tier international team.
 
Bhaijaan said:
Simon Jones
Jesse Ryder
Ishan Kishan
Click to expand...
Simon Jones did briefly return after the post ashes 2005 injury but was injured again before he could play.

I know some trolls here like to talk about Bumrah’s injury mired career, but SPJ is in a league of his own.
 
Hyder said:
Abdur Rehman from Pak
Click to expand...
The left arm Spinner Abdur Rehman? his performances slipped got replaced Zulfiqar Babar. He had a good first season in English County cricket and got signed up for a 2nd season where he performed poorly and he got dropped from his county. He couldn't make a comeback after that for his county or for Pakistan.
 
Bilal Ahmad15 said:
Aviskha Fernando

Charith Asalanka

Another Sri Lankan who scored a century on Test debut vs India in India (in 2017, I cant remember his name)

Shai Hope

Nicholas Pooran
Click to expand...
Asalanka has been the SL LOI captain for over a year now.
 
Players who suddenly appeared (owing to nepotism), then vanished in no time

Rohan Gavaskar
Bazid Khan
Faisal Iqbal
Junaid Zia
 
msb314 said:
Never really understand why Asim Kamal, Naved Ul Hassan and Rao Iftikhar were all booted out of the Team in the mid / late 2000’s… all were decent players and certain good for squad rotation

Also unclear why Shinwari and Ehsan Ali did not get more chances. I heard Sinwari joined the Tableeghi Jamat and Ehsan was recently playing in MLC as an American…

Also Mukhtar also vanished after one bad T20 series against Zimbabwe in 2015… Never saw him again

Finally Haris Sohail. Mysteriously vanished after the 2019 WC. I heard he was selected for the England Tour in 2020 but said no due to COVID concerns… but don’t blame him for that at all. Never got closure on this one
Click to expand...
Rana Naved lost Pak more matches than he won. Was given so many chances after his 1 good series in India. Was later involved in team infighting which proved to be the final nail in his coffin.
 
AZulfi said:
Players who suddenly appeared (owing to nepotism), then vanished in no time

Rohan Gavaskar
Bazid Khan
Faisal Iqbal
Junaid Zia
Click to expand...
Bazid among these actually did well in the couple of ODIs he got. Was a consistent scorer in LA as well. But I guess was a bit too slow even for 2005.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
Considering the amount of rubbish bowlers they tried in test matches, its kinda amazing how quickly they discarded Abbas. Especially considering the start he had to his test career. And all he had was a couple of bad series. I think his numbers are still pretty great.

Rumman Raees I thought had some real potential. But his injuries were far too serious unfortunately.

Zafar Gohar is still a very good back-up to have in test matches for Abrar Ahmed.
Click to expand...
Zafar was mistreated the most I believe. Was given a solitary test in NZ of all places and then was discarded.
 
dravidthewall said:
Umar Akmal. One of the finest talented batsman cricket ever produced after Bradman. Suddenly vanished.
Click to expand...
He was talented for sure, if only he had a good head on his shoulders. Apart from disciplinary and fitness issues, he was just not prepared to put in the hard yards, often skipping domestic games. The fixing scandal (PSL) was the final nail in his coffin
Although Pak lost this game, this was a special knock, caning Starc among others

World T20 2014
 
Umar Akmal is the guy who comes to my mind. Talent 100%, focus on cricket 0%
 
msb314 said:
Never really understand why Asim Kamal, Naved Ul Hassan and Rao Iftikhar were all booted out of the Team in the mid / late 2000’s… all were decent players and certain good for squad rotation

Also unclear why Shinwari and Ehsan Ali did not get more chances. I heard Sinwari joined the Tableeghi Jamat and Ehsan was recently playing in MLC as an American…

Also Mukhtar also vanished after one bad T20 series against Zimbabwe in 2015… Never saw him again

Finally Haris Sohail. Mysteriously vanished after the 2019 WC. I heard he was selected for the England Tour in 2020 but said no due to COVID concerns… but don’t blame him for that at all. Never got closure on this one
Click to expand...
Covid concerns, serious?!
 
pakistani pride said:
Covid concerns, serious?!
Click to expand...
That’s what I heard from the news at the time. Haris didn’t want to travel abroad due to COVID at the time… and frankly I don’t blame him given the circumstances in 2020
 
BouncerGuy said:
Umar Akmal is the guy who comes to my mind. Talent 100%, focus on cricket 0%
Click to expand...
Umar Akmal got plenty of chances until 2017 and was then rightfully booted out by Mickey Arthur…

Tried to come back in 2019 in T20’s and got booted out by Misbah forever this time lol.

Has been decent in PSL in recent years however…
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Pakistan’s own Fab Four in T20Is? 🔥
Replies
22
Views
741
Hyder
H
Unbiased-Fan
Players who are worse than their stats suggest
2 3
Replies
190
Views
4K
Mesozoic
Mesozoic
kingusama92
Rebuilding Pakistan Cricket: A Roadmap for The Future (Potential Prospects + Selections)
2
Replies
103
Views
5K
Dr_Bassim
Dr_Bassim
RidiculousMan
Rohit Sharma: The captain who ended India’s Trophy drought
Replies
45
Views
2K
BouncerGuy
BouncerGuy
Bhaijaan
[VIDEO] 90s players left no legacy for Pakistan Cricket, claim Mohammad Hafeez and Rashid Latif
2 3
Replies
199
Views
7K
BouncerGuy
BouncerGuy
Back
Top