Top 5 players to have missed most matches between two T20I appearances ft. Khaleel Ahmed

With the ever-growing popularity of the T20 format, it is not commonplace for a cricketer to miss many matches between T20I appearances. The teams have too many player options to select, leaving those who haven't featured in a T20I for a while due to fitness or form almost certainly finished.

Yet, there are rare instances where a cricketer gets a second and third opportunity after several matches years later to cement his place in the national side.

While such players are normally not frontline options or T20 specialists, they possess some unique skill or recently impressed in the domestic circuit, warranting a re-selection.

The India-Zimbabwe T20I series opener saw one such instance with left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed finding a place in the Indian XI after seemingly an eternity.

On that note, let us look at the top five players to have missed the most matches between two T20I appearances.

# 1 Khaleel Ahmed - 104 matches

Khaleel's T20I performances have been a mixed bag throughout his career.

India's Khaleel Ahmed tops the list for the most number of matches between two T20I appearances at 104.

The 26-year-old last played a T20I for India against Bangladesh at Nagpur in November 2019. Despite a fairly impressive showing with figures of 0/27 in four overs, Khaleel never played in the format for India since.

However, thanks to his excellent IPL 2024 showing, he was selected for the Indian squad for the ongoing Zimbabwe T20I series. At the time of writing, Khaleel has done his chances of further selection no good with dismal figures of 0/28 in three overs.

Coming into the contest, the Rajasthan-born pacer boasted reasonable T20I numbers with 13 wickets at an average of 35.30 and an economy of 8.82 in 14 games.

# 2 Devon Thomas - 102 matches

Thomas has struggled to convert his CPL performances into T20Is.

West Indian wicket-keeper Devon Thomas comes second on the list with 102 matches between two T20I appearances. The now-34-year-old played his third T20I against Australia at Brisbane in 2013.

While he did not get to bat in that encounter, Thomas was nowhere to be found in the West Indian T20I side since. Just as his T20I career had seemingly ended, the Antigua-born gloveman received a second opportunity in the series opener against Pakistan in 2021.

Despite scoring only two runs in that game, Thomas played another eight T20Is the following year in 2022. Yet, he has sub-par T20I numbers with an average of only 8.50 and a strike rate of 94.44 in 12 games.

# 3 Rony Talukdar - 100 matches

Bangladesh v England - 1st T20 International

Bangladesh batter Rony Talukdar is the third and final cricketer to miss 100 or more T20I games between two appearances. After debuting against South Africa in 2015, the 33-year-old had to wait almost eight years to get another opportunity.

Taludkar finally played another T20I in the home series against England last year. The talented right-hander was a regular in the Bangladesh T20I side until the end of 2023 but missed out on the 15-member squad for the recently concluded World Cup.

Overall, Taludkar has played 11 T20Is with an average of 22.40 and a strike rate of 136.75. His lone half-century came against Ireland in Chattogram last year.

# 4 Matt Henry - 93 matches

Henry has endured a hit-and-miss T20I career.

One of New Zealand's best new-ball bowlers, Matt Henry surprisingly finds himself on this list. A key reason could be the Kiwis already boasting established white-ball pacers for a prolonged period and Henry's limited-over potency becoming better only recently.

The 32-year-old played six T20Is between 2014 and 2017 and picked up seven wickets. However, Henry's next T20I appearance came over six years later against Sri Lanka in 2023.

The right-arm pacer has since been a reasonably regular fixture in New Zealand's T20I side. Henry was also part of their squad in the 2024 T20 World Cup but played only one game against Afghanistan.

Overall, the talented pacer has played 18 T20Is, picking up 22 wickets at an average of 24.22 and an economy of 8.20.

# 5 Sahibzada Farhan - 92 matches

How often do we find a cricketer with only five T20I games under his belt also miss substantial time between two appearances? Yet, Pakistan batter Sahibzada Farhan endured just that as he missed 92 matches between 2018 and 2024.

The 28-year-old played three T20Is in 2018 before being out of action until recently. Pakistan recalled the middle-order batter to their T20I setup and Farhan played two encounters in New Zealand earlier this year.

However, he failed to grab his opportunities and was left out of their 2024 T20 World Cup squad.

Farhan has played five T20Is overall and has a dismal batting average of 12 with a strike rate of 96.77.