Australian all-rounder Shane Watson calls it a day

Australian all-rounder Shane Watson has announced that he will retire from international cricket after the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2016. He earlier announced his retirement from Test Cricket at the end of last year's Ashes tour of England and has not been part of Australia’s one-day squad since September 2015. Now he will bid adieu to the international cricket forever after the completion of the ongoing T20 World Cup in India.

Watson made his international debut in an ODI against South Africa in Centurion on 24th March 2002 at the age of 20. Now at the age of 34, the talented all-rounder from Australia has decided to call it a day and move to other spheres of life.

"One morning I woke up in Dharamsala to the beautiful view and I don't know what it was exactly but I knew now was the right time," Watson said.

"I've really enjoyed my time being back in the Australian squad. But it is quite different, none of the other guys I played with growing up are here anymore. I've made the right decision. I couldn't really see the light with the all the injuries I had," added Watson.

Though Watson’s test career didn’t really take off because of his persistent injuries and poor form, yet he was highly successful in the shorter format of the game. He will finish with 190 one-day internationals to his name for 5757 runs at an average of 40.54, and 168 wickets at 31.79, as well as holding the Australian record for the highest ODI score of 185 not out against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2011.

Ahead of his final T20 international matches, Watson has 1400 runs at an average 28.00 from 56 games, and 46 wickets at 24.71.

Watson is also amongst the seven men in the history of cricket who have achieved the unique double of 10000 runs and 250 wickets in International cricket across the three formats. The others are Steve Waugh, Carl Hooper, Sanath Jayasuriya, Jacques Kallis, Shahid Afridi and Chris Gayle. He also captained Australia in all three formats, adding T20s to his list in January against India. He scored a magnificent 124 in that game to score the highest T20I score by a captain.

He played in three 50 over World Cup tournaments and was part of Australia's triumphant squads in 2007 and 2015. Watson was also the Man of the Match in the Champions Trophy finals of 2006 and 2009, both of which Australia won thanks largely to his efforts as an opener. The 2009 Champions Trophy especially was a case of Watson standing up in the big moments: he scored an unbeaten 136 against England in the semi-final and then struck 105 not out against New Zealand in the final.

Though the T20 World Cup title is still elusive for the Australian team, Watson himself won the Player of the Tournament award in 2012 in Sri Lanka where he topped the run tally with 249 at a whopping 49.80 and was the second leading wicket-taker with 11 at an impressive average of 16.00.

Australia will require his services in this year’s world cup as they look to add the only title that is missing from their illustrious cabinet. Watson also would like to have a winners’ medal in his cupboard. His elegant late cuts and his deceptive bouncers were some of the trademarks of his exemplary cricketing skills.

Goodbye, Watson. Thank you for all the memories.