With the advent of T-20 Cricket, the future of test cricket perhaps looked out of fashion. But a player can't be called great unless and until he has been able to perform well in the longest format of the game.
A player has to play with a different approach in test cricket to succeed than from other formats of game. Test cricket provides equal opportunity for batsman and bowler to succeed in test as there is no time limit in test cricket.
Having said, let us take a look at four cricketers who failed in test cricket.
Varun Aaron:
“Talent Meets Opportunity”
Varun Aaron was the case of talent meets opportunity. It's something very rare to see an Asian bowler from Indian Cricket History clocked the speed over 150 Kmph at the regular basis. Varun Aaron was the complete fast bowler and the superstar of the coming decade since his debut but career marred with injuries perhaps ended the career of once in an era bowler.
The more bad part of his career was he didn't got the support in the initial days of his career when he was suffering from the injuries which clearly depicts how much our board cares about the such gifted players who could've been the front-line bowler of team India.
Varun Aaron featured in 9 tests took 18 wickets and in 9 ODIs took 11 wickets perhaps numbers are not enough to back his case but the pace he was bowling he has the every ability to be the fastest of last two decades. But the boards have to set some parameters so the player like him don't get affected with injuries in the future.
Suresh Raina:
Since his debut against Sri Lanka at the age of 18 in limited overs cricket. He had been the vital cog for team India in the ODIs for the entire decade and one of the finest white-ball cricketers. Raina had been the most dependable player along Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni.
But in the longest format of the game he had waited for five long years to make his test debut in 2010 against Sri Lanka with the fine century to prove his authority in red-ball cricket.
But Raina couldn't manage to perform against A-List teams especially in the alien conditions where the ball seam and move more dangerously which in result caused him to lose his spot in the test team.
Suresh Raina featured in 18 tests scoring 768 runs which include 7 fifties and one hundred. With the kind of consistency in the limited overs cricket without getting ample opportunities.
Raina could've been the greatest left-handed batsman for team India which in result not possible because of the boards being selective towards the specific players and keep them at the top for most of the times.
Yuvraj Singh:
The most flamboyant left-handed cricketer in the Indian Cricket History. Since his debut against Australia when he scored 80-ball 84 runs. It was announced to the world cricket that team India's most stylish cricketer has arrived.
For more than a decade he had been the match-winner for team India in every sense in limited overs cricket and along with MS Dhoni rocket launched the bronze of chasing in ODIs.
But in the red-ball cricket he had been less effective although provided with adequate opportunity but he wasn't able to capitalize like the limited overs cricket. Yuvraj Singh had played some spectacular knocks in his test career. But couldn't manage to find a place in a test team.
Yuvraj Singh featured in 40 tests scored 1900 runs which include 3 hundreds and 11 fifties at an average of 33.
Michael Bevan:
The tag of Finisher was started by Michael Bevan and one of the original finishers in the limited overs cricket for Australia team which has been filled with match-winners. Bevan had been the vital cog for Australia in ODIs.
A legitimate game-changer for Australia who had been part of two successful world campaigns. The art of chasing big totals which we have seen in cricket these days was officially started by this genius left-handed batsman.
Although Bevan featured in 232 ODIs, he scored 6917 runs at an average of 53.17 with many match-winning knocks during the chase. But he couldn't manage to keep that consistency in the red-ball cricket for Australia and was able to play only 18 tests in which he scored only 785 runs.
The reason for his short career in test cricket was unable to play the short pitched deliveries although he had worked on it in domestic cricket but later his career was into the injuries factor after he decided to retire in 2006.
