IPL is now the most followed cricket league across the globe. It is also one of the most valued sports properties in the entire world and athletes in various quarters of the world aspire to be part of this event.
The money involved in the IPL is one of the main factors influencing cricket players’ desire to participate. Teams are not afraid to shell out crores of rupees to add the players they want to their teams.
Even though the IPL is becoming more and more popular, many cricketers still rank Test cricket as the best format. After collecting the trophy, IPL 2025 champion Virat Kohli actually stated that he thinks Test cricket is five levels above all others.
It demonstrates how difficult it is for a player to break into Test cricket, even if he is a proven IPL superstar. We will now examine the five such superstars who left international cricket without ever participating in a Test match.
1. Nicholas Pooran
Nicholas Pooran shook the cricket world when he declared his retirement on international cricket aged 29. As a rule, players retire their careers in their late 30s, and Pooran has done it even before his 30th birthday.
Pooran recently emerged for the Lucknow Super Giants and scooped the trophy of hitting the most sixes during the season. The West Indies batter represented his team in 61 ODIs and 106 T20Is, but never appeared in a Test. Interestingly, he appeared in five first-class matches scoring a total of 319 runs.
2. Yusuf Pathan
Yusuf Pathan is the former Indian all-rounder and he represented the Rajasthan Royals, who lifted the trophy in the 2008 season. Besides, he represented the Kolkata Knight Riders who are the 2012 and 2014 holders of the trophy.
Yusuf did not get a chance to play Test cricket, although he was part of the Indian teams which won the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 ODI World Cup. Spanning almost 20 years in the red-ball arena, Yusuf represented 100 first-class matches, but never got picked in the Indian Test team.
3. Ambati Rayudu
Ambati Rayudu is another multiple-time IPL winning cricketer to make it to the list. The right handed batsman was given a fairwell in the Indian premier league that was a dream come true. He made an immense contribution to the victory of Chennai Super Kings in the final game of the 2023 season.
Rayudu is also the trophy winner with Mumbai Indians. At the international level, he played 55 ODIs and six T20Is as a member of the Indian playing XI. Rayudu, who cumulatively scored 6,151 runs in 97 first-class matches, never got an opportunity to put on the whites in India.
4. Kedar Jadhav
Kedar Jadhav, one of the few players to hit a triple century in first-class cricket and win the IPL finals, was curiously not given the opportunity to play Test cricket. In 87 first-class games, Jadhav amassed 6,100 runs, including a career-high 327 against Uttar Pradesh.
The middle-order batsman, though, was never included in the Indian Test squad. Jadhav resigned from all forms of cricket in June 2024, having played nine Twenty20 Internationals and 73 One-Day Internationals for India.
5. Kieron Pollard
The Mumbai Indians’ middle-order was anchored by Kieron Pollard during his illustrious IPL tenure. In 189 games, he amassed 3,412 runs and claimed 69 wickets.
The all-rounder Pollard never made it into the Test playing XI, despite playing 123 ODIs and 101 T20Is for the West Indies. It’s important to remember that Pollard played 27 first-class games before declaring his retirement in 2022 without earning any Test caps.
