5 Indian batters who played selfish knocks and let the team down in the game

Cricket is a team game but sometimes the big players keep themselves over the requirement of the team’s interest of the team to secure their places in the team. There has been some example of players in the history of the Indian team who had played some selfish knocks in crucial matches and let the team down.

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The list includes the likes of some great names like former legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar and former skipper, MS Dhoni.

With said that, here we’ll have a look at the five cricketers who played the sort of knocks that really didn’t work in the favor of the team.

Sachin Tendulkar

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One of the all-time great cricketers ever played the game in the history of Indian cricket. He still holds the great record of 100 international centuries to his name during his career that lasted almost 24 years. But still, there is misery registered with this great name of Indian cricket.

It was a match of the Asia Cup in 2012 between India and Bangladesh on the 16^th of March when the Master Blaster scored his 100^th international century. But unfortunately, this knock ended up on the wrong side of the match as India lost the match to Bangladesh.

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MS Dhoni

On the 2^nd of July in 2017, the Indian team was locking horns with the West Indies. The Caribbean side managed to post a total of 189 runs in the first innings of the match. The men in blue required 190 runs in the 50 overs. It was looking very easy for the men in blue to chase the target.

But the sluggish half-century knock from MS Dhoni (54 runs off 114 balls) played a villain in the way of India’s victory. Eventually, the Caribbean side managed to defend the total and win the match. Later on, the fans blamed the former skipper for his poor display of batting in that match.

Ravi Shastri

Indian team under the captaincy of Mohammed Azharuddin was playing a match against Australia in the 1992 World Cup. The yellow outfits posted a target of 238 runs for the men in blue. Former all-rounder Ravi Shastri was vice-captain of the team during the marquee tournament in Australia.

But he happened to play a very poor knock against Australia in that match. Shastri could score only 25 runs off 67 balls. Eventually, the Indian side lost the rain-affected match by a margin of one run courtesy to the poor knock from Shastri.

Gautam Gambhir

The Indian team was hosting England for a home Test series. The Indian team was struggling at a moment in the match trailing with 86 runs. Gautam Gambhir was the only proper batter who went up till the last. But his selfish approach exposed the lower batting order of the team.

Gambhir scored only 65 runs and was dismissed in the last. Eventually, the visitors won the match by a margin of 10 wickets.

Sanju Samson

Most recently in the current year, the men in blue were playing against the South Africans. The star wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson played a knock of 86 runs off 63 balls. But it went in vain as India couldn’t get better off the visitors and lost the match by 9 runs.

Later on, the fans called out Sanju Samson for his selfish approach and blamed for the defeat of India against South Africa in a crucial match.