5 players who played for India without central contract in 2015/16

#3 Parthiv Patel

At the start of 2016, Parthiv Patel must not have fancied his chances of playing for India again. Not only had it been six years since his last Test but he hadn’t played for India in any format since 2012 when he played an ODI against Sri Lanka.

Consistent performances in the domestic circuit and an unfortunate injury to Wriddhiman Saha meant that the wicketkeeper got his chance once again. He might have only played two Tests against England before Saha made a swift comeback from injury, but he certainly made an impact in both games.

His four Test innings read 42, 67*, 15 and 71. Two fifties in two Tests raised questions about whether he could replace Saha as the first-choice keeper in the Test side as well. But although that didn’t materialize, there can be little doubt that Parthiv’s international future looks a lot more promising now than it looked at the start of 2016.