5 lean patches that forced great Indian cricketers into retirement

#1 Kapil Dev

Kapil Dev

Sometimes the pursuit of a world record can be a bit too tempting and no cricketer worth his salt is immune to it and that is what happened with Kapil Dev towards the end of his career. He was one of India's and indeed, the world's, top medium pace swing bowlers, however, towards the end of his career his form had plateaued a bit. Even then, he kept going as he seemed quite close to the world record for most Test wickets and his numbers in the last few years were a testament to that fact.

In his last 19 Tests, played between January 1992 and March 1994, Kapil picked up 49 wickets with no five-wicket hauls and his strike rate had rocketed up to 80.3 (career strike rate 63.9). The fact that his poor form was being noticed became abundantly clear when he retired after playing just one more Test after attaining his world record.