Cricket is one of the most popular sports played today, attracting the attention of an estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide. The sport also has a staggering number of players: there are approximately 30 million registered cricket players worldwide, encompassing both amateur and professional levels, and likely several million more that play it casually.
Only a few thousand of these players make it to professional leagues or are good enough to represent their home nation in international tournaments. These players become known for their contributions to the game and become household names among fans.
However, there are plenty of underrated players that, despite playing in some of the biggest tournaments and appearing in media like magazines, video games, movies, and even slots with bonus buy feature, never became the cricket icons they set out to be, which can be a difficult pill to swallow.
To shed some much-deserved light on these players, we’ve searched high and low to find the most underrated cricket players of all time. Even though these players earned some incredible statistics in their careers, they never quite made it to cricket stardom.
Ajit Agarkar (India)
Despite earning a good reputation and being relatively well known among fans, Ajit Agarkar is rarely mentioned when discussing the best fast bowlers to ever play for India. But considering the statistics he amassed in his career, this is an oversight of note.
Mostly known for playing ODIs while representing India, he is the third-highest wicket-taker in Indian ODI cricket, taking 288 wickets in only 191 games. These stats were formed by incredible games, including the 2003 Adelaide Test against Australia at Lord’s when he took six wickets after allowing a mere 41 runs.
Also achieving the fastest fifty in the Indian ODI (off only 21 balls), Ajit’s career ran into trouble early on due to continuous injury and inconsistency. These factors, which ultimately led to his retirement from cricket in 2013, remain one of the talking points about his career and are why he is often underrated. Since retirement, however, he has become the chairman of the BCCI selection committee.
Ross Taylor (New Zealand)
Ross Taylor may be known for helping New Zealand win the 2019-2021 ICC World Test Championship, but his name is often overlooked when discussing some of the most prolific players in the island nation’s history.
Taylor played across all formats of cricket for his home country and was the first cricketer to play more than 100 matches in all three formats. He is also known for his consistent run rate, gaining over 6,000 runs in ODIs and test matches.
Despite this stellar performance, he is often underrated due to his rise coinciding with many other prolific players in the nation. These players, like Brendon McCullum, Stephen Fleming, and Kane Williamson, often overshadow Taylor, making him one of the most underrated cricket players of all time. Taylor officially retired from international games in 2022.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies)
When fans speak of remarkable players from the West Indies region, Chris Gayle and Brian Lara often come up. Few, however, talk about Shivnarine Chanderpaul—despite his stellar career in which he achieved extraordinary feats for the nation.
Playing professionally for 21 years, Chanderpaul scored an average of more than 50 runs across test matches and more than 11,000 runs in his career. As one of only a handful of West Indies cricketers to achieve this, the feat helped him become captain numerous times.
Many believe Chanderpaul is underrated because of the weaker teammates he played alongside when representing the nation. Others attribute it to being overshadowed by Brian Lara’s rise at the same time. Either way, Chanderpaul is often not mentioned when discussing the Caribbean greats.
Chris Woakes (England)
Beginning his representation of the English national team in 2013, Chris Woakes is known chiefly for his ability to take wickets during test matches. Having taken over 100 wickets at an average of 30.18, he is also a decent batsman who has achieved over 1,000 test runs.
Despite being a consistently good player, Woakes is often overlooked for team selections and has been added or removed from the national team on multiple occasions. Fortunately for them but not for him, other formidable fast bowlers have given Woakes an underrated reputation that doesn’t do justice to his ability to make a difference for the team.
Brad Hogg (Australia)
Brag Hogg first appeared on the Australian national team as a substitute for Shane Warne. From this, he participated in all formats of cricket for the country as well as playing in many domestic tournaments.
Achieving just short of 4,000 first-class runs and taking more than 181 wickets, Hogg had a solid professional career until he retired in 2008. His underrated status is often attributed to the fact that many other greats, such as Warne, rose to prominence simultaneously—causing his achievements to be overshadowed.
Jacques Rudolph (South Africa)
Jacques Rudolph quickly began making a name for himself when he started playing international cricket for South Africa in 2003. Playing in test matches and ODIs, Rudolph scored over 3,500 runs collectively. Domestically, he scored more than 19,000 first-class runs.
Although Rudolph was expected to continue his exceptional career, his international performances were marred by incredible inconsistency—he performed fantastically in some games and was no help to the team in others. Because of this, he was dropped from the national team and retired from cricket in 2017.
Wasim Jaffer (India)
Amassing more than 19,000 runs in his first-class career, Wasim Jaffer also holds the title of the highest run-scorer in the Ranji Trophy—a first-class competition famous throughout India. This impressive number of runs earned Jaffer a run rate of well over 50, making many believe he would be a logical choice for the national team.
Despite eventually being chosen to represent India, Jaffer only played in under 40 matches across ODI and test cricket. Because of this, and because he is overshadowed by Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, Jaffer is commonly an afterthought and not given much recognition despite his impressive career. He retired from all cricket in 2020.
