Shadab Khan ranks among them. The Pakistan all-rounder turned out for the county four years ago but made only a limited impact.

In 12 appearances in the Vitality Blast, Shadab managed just 134 runs at 13.40 and took nine wickets at 41.77.

Those averages would have been pretty impressive - had they been the other way around.

Poor old Shadab. He tried his best. They always do, these overseas lads who are gone before you know it.

It cannot be easy for them to dip in and out of a new club, a new environment, as though they were tourists on a whistle-stop tour.

At least Shadab played a part in helping Yorkshire reach Finals Day for only the third time.

He even saved his most significant performance for the semi-final, making his highest score (34) and returning Yorkshire’s most economical figures (0-31 from four overs) in the defeat by Lancashire.

But after the big announcement that Yorkshire had signed, as their then managing director of cricket Darren Gough put it, “an unbelievable spinner… someone who can bat at the top, bat in the middle order and (who) hits the ball a long way”, the reality proved to be rather different. Another in the line of overseas “duds”.

Fast forward, then, to Sunday in Lahore.

Shadab played the innings of his career to date, helping Pakistan beat England in the ongoing tri-series.

When he and Haris Rauf - who also played for Yorkshire in 2022, taking 19 wickets in eight matches - came together, Pakistan were 154-9 chasing 242.

The sound of cars being started, as Bumble might have put it, must have been deafening around the Gaddafi Stadium.

But over the course of the next hour or so, Shadab brought up his first international hundred - and only the second of his professional career.

His unbeaten 113 was the highest score by anyone batting at No 8 or lower in a one-day international.

Pakistan scored 140 while he was at the crease, meaning that he accounted for all but 27 of those runs. He contributed 81 of the 89 runs added with Rauf that set a new record for the highest 10th wicket stand in a successful ODI run chase.

What a performance it was by the scintillating Shadab, who faced 96 balls and hit five sixes and 13 fours.

This was the player Yorkshire thought they had signed - and the player Pakistan hoped was in there all along.

It was the sort of innings that can supercharge a career that had started to stall after Shadab burst onto the international scene just under a decade ago.

He has made 206 international appearances across the three formats (126 T20s, 74 ODIs and six Tests) but has been living on borrowed time in the eyes of his critics.

Those critics, in fairness, are not without a point. Some have highlighted Pakistan’s depth of spin-bowling options as a reason for the selectors to look elsewhere, along with the rise of another spin-bowling all-rounder in Arafat Minhas, who claimed a six-wicket haul against England earlier in the tri-series.

Minhas, 21, is a left-arm spinner and looks a fine prospect. He can also hold a bat, as he showed against England.

As a leg-spinner, Shadab is certainly no Abdul Qadir - but then who is?

He has still been good enough to take 226 wickets across his international career and, having just turned 28, should now be approaching the peak of his powers.

However, some have said that he is taking up a space that would be better filled by someone else. There have been accusations of favouritism towards him from the Pakistan coaching staff; he seems to be one of those polarising figures.

But, as we saw on Sunday, Shadab can play. And, on that evidence, he has the look of someone with plenty still to offer, his ball-striking was certainly commanding and clean.

Not many could play an innings like he did on Sunday, while his return of 0-31 from seven overs, though hardly spectacular, was hardly a poor one in the context of events.

“There have not been many (good) performances from me in the recent past,” Shadab admitted after the match.

“Because of that I have received criticism, and the management has faced criticism too.

“But a lot of credit goes to the management, who kept their faith in me.

"You try to improve as a professional, and I’m very happy that I played that innings and we won the match.”

It was, you might say, a Shadab-ya-face performance for those who have doubted his ability to deliver.

A story that had begun to lose its way may yet have many more chapters to be written.​​​