3 IPL Stars Who Couldn't Make It Big in International Cricket

IPL has been a great phenomenon for Indian cricket, especially for young talent. Ask the likes of Sarfaraz Khan if they ever imagined they would get the chance to share the dressing room with the likes of Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers.

IPL also provided a platform to showcase one's talent and skills and get noticed quickly. With the popularity of the tournament, it's hard to not make an impression if you have the talent or/and the skills. Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya are just a few names who made it into the international scene leveraging IPL. But, not all IPL stars have been successful in the international circuit. There have been some players who consistently did above par for their franchises but were not able to make it big in the international arena. And this is about 3 such players. So, here we go:

#3 Piyush Chawla

Image Source: PTI

Piyush Chawla has represented Kings XI Punjab (between 2008 to 2013) and Kolkata Knight Riders (2014 onwards) in the IPL. After 11 seasons, he is the 3rd highest wicket-taker of the tournament. He has claimed 140 wickets at a strike rate of 20.40 and an average of 26.23 in his 144 IPL appearances. Last year, he also became the first player to bag 50+ wickets for 2 franchises. It's not just his wicket-taking abilities but also his ability to build pressure which makes him the must-have wrist spinner in your squad. He stands no. 5 when it comes to most dot balls bowled in the tournament and boasts an economy of 7.71.

Sadly for Piyush Chawla and his fans, his IPL success didn't materialize on the International stage. Although he has been part of 2 World cup winning squads (the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 ODI World Cup), there's not much to look at as far as his personal records are concerned. He his 30+ years of age and has so far managed to make only 35 appearances for India in Tests, ODIs, and T20Is combined.

#2 Yusuf Pathan

Yusuf Pathan has scored the 2nd fastest IPL century in 37 balls

Yusuf Pathan started his IPL journey with the Rajasthan Royals and played a huge role in making them the first title winners in 2008. He was, in fact, the man-of-the-match in the final. Pathan has won 2 more IPL titles with Kolkata Knight Riders. Be it bowling or batting, Yusuf Pathan has always managed to impact the game in favor of his side. He stands at No. 3 along with Rohit Sharma when it comes to most Man-of-the-match awards won in IPL history. He has won 16 MOM awards so far, only behind AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle. His 37-ball century against Mumbai Indians in 2010 is the 2nd fastest century in IPL.

Like Piyush Chawla, Yusuf Pathan was also part of both the World Cup winning India squads. And like him, he also doesn't have a lot of individual records going in his favor. He is now 36+ years of age and last represented India in March of 2012. Another IPL star who couldn't repeat his IPL success on the international stage.

#1 Robin Uthappa

Robin Uthappa has been the 5th highest run-getter in IPL history as of IPL 2018

Robin Uthappa has played for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Pune Warriors, Mumbai Indians, and Kolkata Knight Riders and has always been among the runs in IPL. He even won the orange cap in the 2014 edition. Having scored 350+ runs in 8 out of the 11 editions, he averages a respectable 28.57 and is the 5th highest run-getter in the tournament's history so far. In the 2014 edition, Uthappa put scores of 40+ in 10 successive innings.

But, his international career never really took off. Probably, the only highlight of his international career came before IPL, as he was part of the Indian Team which won the first ever T20 World Cup in 2007. In 2 consecutive domestic seasons (2013-14 and 2014-15), Uthappa helped Karnataka win all 3 major titles (Ranji Trophy, Irani Cup, and Vijay Hazare Trophy). These performances helped him get a call up for the ODI team but he couldn't seize the opportunity.

Being over 33 years of age, he has so far made only 46 ODIs and 13 T20Is appearances for India in which he has managed to score 934 and 249 runs respectively. For a player of Uthappa's caliber, these numbers don't stack up. It only tells how difficult, competitive, and at times unfair, the sport is, and you have to have some luck on your side to make it big in International cricket.