For the majority of cricket players, being dropped from the national squad towards the end of their career is often an indication that they have reached a dead end in their career. However, there are some Indian players who have been able to prove that this is not necessarily the case.
But their respective comebacks happened at a time when retirement seemed closer than selection for the India team again. So, in today’s post, we will be discussing five such Indian cricketers who staged a brilliant comeback to the national team after years of neglect.
Here are the 5 Indian players who made their national comeback at the fag end of their careers:
5. Ashish Nehra
Ashish Nehra’s full potential was never realised, given that he had a fragile body and battled frequent injuries. Having made his India debut in 1999, Nehra played 17 Tests, 120 ODIs and 27 T20Is in his career, taking 44, 157 and 34 wickets respectively. It seemed like Nehra’s India career had come to an end after he played in the 2011 World Cup semi-final against Pakistan and suffered an injury.
India seemingly moved on, but Ashish Nehra continued bowling well and, thanks to some brilliant performances in the IPL, earned a surprise India T20I recall in 2015 and went on to play in the T20 World Cup 2016. He picked 21 wickets in 19 T20Is from 2015-16 to 2018 and retired from the game in front of his home crowd in Delhi.
4. Amit Mishra
Amit Mishra was unlucky to have the prime of his career coincide with Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. He made his India debut in 2003 in ODIs but had to wait for his Test debut till 2008 and 2010 for his T20I debut. He played 22 Tests, 36 ODIs and 10 T20Is, often being the third spinner when the conditions called for him. He was the third spinner after Kumble and Harbhajan, and then to Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin.
Mishra made several comebacks into the team, with one in ODIs in 2009, after debuting in 2003. He was then forgotten until he made his comeback in ODIs and T20Is in 2016 for a good little run. He played the 2014 T20 World Cup in Bangladesh and finished his career with 76 Test wickets, 64 ODI scalps and 16 T20I victims.
3. Parthiv Patel
Parthiv Patel was only 17 when he made his India debut in 2002 in England. He remained the No. 1 keeper for India until MS Dhoni debuted in 2004 and was then sporadically called up as backup keeper. With Wriddhiman Saha taking gloves in Tests after Dhoni retired in 2014, all seemed finished for Parthiv Patel.
After being left out of the Indian team in 2010, Parthiv Patel earned a surprise recall in the 2018 South Africa Test series as Saha got injured. He had a decent performance with the bat and behind the stumps, but the return of Saha and then the rise of Rishabh Pant and Parthiv Patel’s India career came to an end in 2018.
2. Dinesh Karthik
Dinesh Karthik was one of the glovemen India tried in the mid-2000s before MS Dhoni arrived. He made his India Test and ODI debut in 2004 and his T20I debut in 2006 and served the Indian team well. He often played as a pure batter due to MS Dhoni’s presence and even opened for India in Tests. However, despite playing 26 Tests, 94 ODIs and 60 T20Is, Karthik could never cement his spot in the Indian side.
His poor performance for India in the 2018 England tour led to his ouster from the Indian team for good. However, a very good IPL performance in 2021 and 2022 led to his return to the Indian T20I team, and he even played in the 2022 T20 World Cup. He ended his career on a high, though India failed to make it into the finals of the tournament.
1. Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Injuries affected Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s India career so much that, despite his ability, he managed to play only 21 Tests. He did well in white-ball international cricket, playing 121 ODIs and 87 T20Is. He was the first Indian to take a five-wicket haul in all three international formats. He last played a Test in 2018 and an ODI and T20I in 2022.
He was a regular in Indian white-ball teams till 2022, playing in the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups. However, he was then removed from the Indian squad as focus turned to the younger lot. However, as the younger lot failed to perform, the BCCI selectors have recalled Bhuvneshwar Kumar for upcoming New Zealand T20Is. This comes after his brilliant contribution in Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL 2025 and 2026 wins, with 45 wickets across two seasons.
