Top 10 international cricketers who could retire from international very soon
‘Hang your boot and enjoy your second innings of life’. This phrase could be applied for ten international cricketers who after serving their country successfully for a decade and more reached the twilight their career. Some are considering their retirement plan while there are a few who want to play a few series for their country.
Here, Sportz Wiki is looking back at top 10 international cricketers’ career, who should bid cricket adieu very soon.
1)Yuvraj Singh:
He has served Indian cricket for 14 years. He was one of the protagonists behind India’s 2007 World T20 and 2011 World Cup victories. But, he was dropped from the team after his failure in the 2014 World T20 final against Sri Lanka. He played 293 ODIs and 40 Tests and T20s respectively. He could single handedly won many matches for India, his one of the remarkable performance was against England in the 2002 NatWest trophy final at the Lord’s, where he scored a match-winning 69 against England while chasing 325.
2)Ashish Nehra
The Indian pacer was a bowling sensation in his early years in international cricket. He made his ODI debut in 2001. He was outstanding in the 2003 World Cup. His six for 23 against England was a classic display from a left-handed bowler. He has pace and subtle variations, but his career was harshly affected by injury. A promising fast bowler played only 120 ODIs for India. His Test career was finished even before he reached his full potential. His last appearance was against Pakistan in 2004. In limited over cricket he occasionally gets a call in ODI team. His IPL performance has been superb, but at the age of 36 a national team comeback seems like a hallucination. So, he must take a call on his international career as soon as possible.
3) Shahid Afridi
He already bade adieu the ODI and Test format. Currently, he is the captain of Pakistan T20 team. His rainbow career filled with early batting storm and in the second phase of the career he was more a spinner than a batsman. However, his 37 balls century against Sri Lanka was the fastest in international cricket which lasted for 18 years before Corey Anderson of New Zealand broke it in 2014. Afridi has won the 2009 World T20 for Pakistan. He will probably announce his retirement after playing the 2016 World T20 in India.
4) Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakistan’s greatest ever Test captain, who has 19 Tests victories out of 41 Tests on foreign soil, has retired from limited over cricket after the 2015 World Cup. He also led Pakistan in the 2007 World T20 final, but his scoop, which is considered as sabbatical, off Joginder Sharma dashed Pakistan’s hope for inaugural World T20 victory. Misbah is the joint record holder of fastest Test century alongside Viv Richards in Test cricket. Misbah, 41, recently said that he would retire after playing the ongoing England series, but Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shahryar Khan urged him to continue as tough tours in England and Australia are ahead.
5) Shivnarine Chanderpaul
He is the second highest run-scorer for West Indies in Test cricket after Brian Lara. But, he never got lavish treatment from his country. He scored 11867 Test runs and 8778 ODI runs. But, in May after the bad performance against England he was dropped from the team for the home series against Australia. He was also not considered not Sri Lanka tour. He is 41 now, WICB urged him to take a call on his 21-year-old international career. West Indies legend Brian Lara asked WICB to organise a farewell series for him. But the WICB is nonchalant, treated the country’s one of the greatest modern era batsman.
6) Shane Watson
The Australian all-rounder announced his retirement from Test cricket after the lacklustre performance in England. He was dropped from the team after the first Test in Cardiff, Wales. He announced his retirement after the series. But, 34-year-old is yet to retire from limited over cricket. His ODI performance is comparatively good than his Test and T20 performance. He played 190 ODIs and scored 5757 runs at an average of 40.54. He registered 9 hundred, the best is unbeaten 185 against Bangladesh in Dhaka.
7) Younis Khan
He is arguably the best ever Test player from Pakistan. He recently has become the highest Test run scorer of Pakistan surpassing Javed Mindad’s 8832 runs against England in the UAE. Younis has scored 9071 runs so far in 184 innings at an average of 54.31. He also hit 31 Test century. The 37-year-old is still in good shape. So, his retirement plan is a subject of mystery. PCB is happy with his performance, and as the Pakistan Cricket Board are okay with 41-year-old Misbah’s captaincy then Younis Khan is far from PCB’s retirement bully.
8) Harbhajan Singh
The Indian off-spinner is India’s finest ever off-spinner till 2010. His place in the team is replaced by R Ashwin afterwards as his off-spin is no more effective than before. Harbhajan took 417 Test wickets and 269 ODI and 24 T20 wickets. His one of the remarkable performance is hat-trick against Australia at the Eden Gardens. He was dropped from the team by selectors in 2011 and was called back in the team in 2015 for Bangladesh tour and home ODI series against South Africa series. But, he was not considered for Test series against South Africa scheduled to start in Mohali on November 5 as he failed to impress the selectors in Sri Lanka Test series. He is 35, so he must retire and concentrate on his second innings of his life. He recently happily got married to actress Geeta Basra.
9) Rangana Herath
The 37-year-old announced his retirement plan as he wants to play the 2016 World T20 and take a call on his career. The offspinner has been the star performer for Sri Lanka in the last few years. After the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan, he heralded Sri Lankan spin department. He played 65 Test matches and took 293 wickets. He also played 71 ODIs and took 74 wickets. He also played 9 Tests and took 12 wickets. He recently said spin Sri Lanka a Test series victory against visiting West Indies.
10) Chris Gayle
The explosive left-handed opener is currently 36-year-old. He produced many explosive innings in his career. He redefined his batting in the 2007 World T20. He was the first man to score a hundred in the inaugural World T20 match against the host South Africa. He won the 2012 World T20 and 2004 ICC Champions Trophy. He also scored a double hundred in the 2015 World Cup. He has hit two triple century in Test matches, a record which is achieved by only three cricketers in the history.
In the 2016 World T20 in India, he will be the man to watch as his records in IPL are untouchable. West Indies will have the great chance to lift the trophy once again in the Indian subcontinent after their 2012 World T20 victory in Sri Lanka. The multilateral tournament could be his last international series for West Indies because the Carribean islands did not qualify for the 2017 Champions Trophy and the 2019 World Cup is fours year way, he will be 40 by then. So, he should bid farewell to international cricket.