5 players from India's 2011 World Cup squad who are now retired

On 2nd April 2011, MS Dhoni-led Indian side won the coveted World Cup trophy for only the second time in their history. But quite a lot of things have changed in the seven and half years since then.

The guard has shifted from MS Dhoni to Virat Kohli who has taken over in all the formats of the game. A new look Indian team is all set to appear at the grandest stage of them all. The ICC World Cup 2019 is scheduled to be held in England.

Only a seldom of players who played a part in the historic triumph of India is around at this moment. A few of them have gone out of favor in the eyes of the selectors and some of them have bid adieu to this beautiful game called cricket.

Players like Piyush Chawla, Suresh Raina, and veterans like Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh are still around in the domestic circuits making some right noises with their sporadic performances time and again but not been the cricketers once they were but have not called it quits.

There were also unfortunate incidents of players getting caught in the match-fixing scandal as the one happened with Sreesanth. In this slideshow, we will look at the players who were part of the victorious Indian side but have called it a day.

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#5 Munaf Patel

Munaf Patel was an unsung hero in that Indian campaign

Munaf Patel was only picked in the squad because of the injury to the then Indian pace spearhead Praveen Kumar who had to miss the World Cup. Munaf in the company of Zaheer Khan proved to be a handful and put on a great performance taking 11 scalps.

The fact that he played in all of the matches that India played in that world cup speaks his worth to the team with the then Indian bowling coach Eric Simmons stated that Munaf Patel was the unsung hero of that campaign along with Suresh Raina.

But this happened to be his last big tournament for India and never represented the men in blue in any format after 2011. He has taken 125 International wickets across all the formats and is the latest one to have announced his retirement.

#4 Ashish Nehra

Ashish Nehra was a vital cog for the team in 2011

Ashish Nehra will always be remembered as the man having the best bowling figures for India in world cups. He was a man of comebacks and his career was cut short because of many injuries he sustained. Otherwise, he could have become twice as good a player as his stats suggest.

In the 2011 World Cup, Nehra was consistent throughout the tournament and he saved his best against the arch-rivals Pakistan in the semi-final clash where he picked up 3 crucial wickets in that match, and also getting injured in the process.

That game proved to be his last until he made a dramatic comeback to the Indian T20I team in 2016 at the age of 36 on the back of some good performances in the IPL. He announced his retirement from all forms of the game in 2017 playing his last in front of his home crowd.

#3 Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan is India's finest fast bowler

Zaheer Khan was regarded as the Sachin Tendulkar of India's bowling attack by MS Dhoni and rightly so as his exploits with the ball speaks for itself. Zaheer has almost reinvented himself and became the leader of the Indian pace attack.

India's resurgence with the ball and the subsequent emergence of fast bowlers from the ranks can be credited to the success of Zaheer Khan who played a massive role in this shift in the mindset of Indian players who earlier prefer to be batsman rather than pace bowler.

Zaheer was tournament's joint highest wicket-taker along with Pakistan legend Shahid Afridi and would have won the Man of the Series award had it not included a certain Yuvraj Singh's all-around brilliance.

Injuries played a big part in limiting his international appearances thereafter and he finished as India's highest wicket-taker across all the formats for a pace bowler in the year 2014.

#2 Virender Sehwag

One of the greatest opening batsman of all time

Every time Sehwag enter a cricket pitch with the bat, he never ceases to amaze the people with his attacking instinct and a fearless approach. The same was the case with him during world cup 2011 where he would tee off from the very beginning of the Indian innings providing the team with much-needed impetus.

Sehwag in that tournament almost scored 400 runs but most of all he got all that at more than run a ball which was a massive reason behind India's success in 2011. He performances deteriorated over time and were in and out the team before eventually being dropped which forced him to retire from International cricket in the year 2013.

He continued to play in the IPL and later as a mentor. His contributions to the team have been immense having scored 17000 runs for India across formats.

#1 Sachin Tendulkar

Finally, the moment for Sachin arrived in 2011

Sachin Tendulkar will rank among the best in the gentleman's game. He has played this over 24 years and finally achieved the glory of being a world cup winner in 2011. He is in first of our list in the list of players part of 2011 world cup squad who have retired.

Sachin played for India till 2013 with the last one being his 200th Test match which was at his home ground at the Wankhede. This occasion was one of the most emotional moments in international cricket.

Tendulkar finished his career with 100 international centuries scoring over 35000 runs. He has a great record in the world cups having scored most runs and more hundreds than anyone in the said tournament. He has won many laurels for the country in his playing career and a proud owner of many cricketing records.