5 Indians with the longest gap between two ODI appearances

After 992 days, Suresh Raina returned to the Indian ODI squad, with his eyes firmly set on the World Cup next year. His previous appearance for the Indian team in ODIs was under MS Dhoni in 2015, when South Africa visited the subcontinent.

The 2 year, 8-month hiatus highlights how the selectors do not mind bringing older legs back into the fold, as experience will matter on these very wickets when India plays the World Cup next year.

While Raina has been in and out of the T20I setup, even when he was away from the ODI squad, his inclusion to the 50-over squad is a massive boost to his career that seemed to have floundered with his exclusion from a format that he was a constant feature in for a long time.

However, his absence for close to three years isn't as long as those of other Indian players, who were left in the wilderness for a longer duration. Here are five players with the longest absence between two ODIs.

#5 Sairaj Bahutule (5 years, 294 days)

Sairaj Bahutule (middle)

While Sairaj Bahutule might not be a name that is synonymous with followers of Indian cricket today, he was a known figure in the domestic cricket circles in the 1990s and 2000s. The leg-spinner, who also used to bat lower down the order, had a stop-start Indian career, playing eight ODIs and two Tests for the nation between 1997 and 2003.

His ODI career had a huge gap of nearly six years - his penultimate and final ODI for India was played across two millenniums. After representing India in the Independence Cup in January 1998, Bahutule was left in the wilderness for close to six years, before returning to play one more game, his final one, in late 2003, against New Zealand in Cuttack.

He retired in 2013 from first-class cricket and was recently seen in the Rajasthan Royals setup as the bowling coach during the 2018 IPL.

#4 Robin Uthappa (5 years, 344 days)

Robin Uthappa

He started off on a high, but his career tailed off after the 2007 World Cup, and he was out of the side by the next year. A stylish right-hander who can play both as an opener and in the middle-order as a finisher, Uthappa was one of the finds for India during the World T20 in 2007.

After the game against Sri Lanka in the finals of the Asia Cup in 2008, when Ajantha Mendis ran through the Indian batting order, he was out of the reckoning and did not return until 2014, when he was given a chance against Bangladesh.

He scored a fifty on his return, but could not stretch the momentum for long, adding only seven ODI appearances post that, before being left out once again.

#3 Parthiv Patel (6 years, 133 days)

Parthiv Patel

One of the youngest players to represent India in Test cricket, Parthiv Patel started off as a 17-year-old in 2002. His ODI debut did not take much time as well, as he was handed his first India cap in the 50-over format in January 2013 against New Zealand.

With MS Dhoni's emergence as a long-term option, Patel was shown the door, and never really managed to crawl his way back in. After his game against Sri Lanka in 2004, in the Asia Cup, Parthiv did not play a single game until 2010, when he returned under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir.

He played sporadically post that, appearing in a few games in the ODIs after the 2011 World Cup, but could not hold on to his place for much longer. His last ODI appearance came in 2012 during the Commonwealth Bank tri-series.

#2 Amit Mishra (6 years, 160 days)

Amit Mishra

Few will remember that Amit Mishra made his ODI debut way back in 2003, against South Africa in Dhaka, during the TVS Cup. He played a couple of games, after which he was left in the wilderness for six years.

He returned in 2009, in the lead-up to the 2011 World Cup, but even though he played until June 2010 in Zimbabwe, another leggie, Piyush Chawla, was preferred over him by MS Dhoni for the title event.

The 35-year-old's final ODI for India came against New Zealand in 2016, where he finished with astonishing figures of 5-18, breaking the back of the Kiwi batting attack, but did not play a single game thereafter, as Kohli stuck with the younger Yuzvendra Chahal to do the leg-spin duties.

#1 Robin Singh (7 years, 230 days)

Robin Singh bowling against Australia

West Indies-born Robin Singh, who played for India between 1989 and 2001, was a utility player who was in the team for his all-round abilities, including his sharp fielding skills.

He made his 50-over debut in 1989, against West Indies, and played one more game, after which he was kept out of the team for a period of seven years. He returned in late-1996, after the World Cup, and kickstarted a second innings in his career where he managed to add 134 more appearances in the blue jersey.

He played throughout the rest of the 1990s, including the 1999 World Cup, and found a place until 2001. After that, in the wake of the match-fixing scandal, the Indian team under Sourav Ganguly decided to induct fresh legs in the setup, and Robin Singh's career came to a close.