Three Indian players who are loved despite their mediocre numbers in international cricket

Players with mediocre performances are seldom loved by their fans. Generally, only those players have backing from the fans who are either doing well or have a legacy. Talking about Indian cricket, there are a lot of players who didn't do well in international cricket and were duly forgotten.

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However, there are some players who have a great fan following despite having mediocre numbers. There are genuine reasons for it though. They have won some games which mattered the most in the history of Indian cricket. Also, some of them haven't got enough chances and have backing from the fans because of good domestic numbers. In this listicle, we will discuss three players who are loved despite ordinary numbers.

Three players who are loved despite having ordinary numbers

Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Image Credit : Twitter)

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1. Bhuvneshwar Kumar

The right-arm medium pacer has a bowling average of 35.11 which is poor for a bowler of his ability. On the other hand, he averages 26.09 in Tests and 23.31 in T20Is. Such contrasting numbers don't justify his talent.

This is the reason why the fans still love him. They believe that the stats, his ODI numbers in particular don't show his real ability. The reason for these numbers has to be his injury-ridden career in the last four years. It has been observed that after coming from injury, he needs a game o two to comeback to his best. 

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Dinesh Karthik (Image source- Twitter)

2. Dinesh Karthik

The Tamil Nadu player has been in the form of his life in the last few months. After doing well in the Indian T20 League 2022, he made his comeback to the national team in the shortest format and ODI format. The right-hander is also remembered for his heroics in the Nidahas Trophy 2018 final.

However, looking closely at Dinesh Karthik's numbers across formats, they are average, to say the least. In Tests, he averages 25 with 1025 runs in 26 games. Talking about ODIs and T20Is, he averages 30.20 and 29.16 respectively. The reason he might be getting so much recognition is that he made a comeback months after doing a commentary stint with Sky Sports Cricket. 

Sanju Samson: (Image Source: Twitter)

3. Sanju Samson

The wicketkeeper batter averages only 29 in ODIs and 19.30 in T20Is. Notably, he has played two ODIs and 14 T20Is since 2015. This is the reason he might be getting a lot of support. They feel that he doesn't get enough opportunities.

Talking about his performance in the Indian T20 League, he scored more than 400 runs in seasons 2021 and 2022. Recently, when he was dropped from the T20I squad for the West Indies tour, the Indian Cricket Board had to face a lot of heat.