India and Australia are currently fighting it out in a four-match Test series with Australia leading the series by 1-0 with a thumping victory in Pune by 333 runs. India, nonetheless, will be looking to come back with vengeance.
The rivalry between the age-old rivals has grown with every series and even with a new generation of players emerging over the years, the heat remains the same. However, making a debut or playing the final Test of a career against Australia is a memory to relish.
In the last decade or so, several legendary Indian cricketers took their final bow in Tests against Australia. We take a look at the five of the biggest names to have done so.
#1 Sourav Ganguly
In 2008, the Prince of Calcutta honed his skills one final time in Test cricket against Australia in Nagpur. The fact that India won the match by 172 runs and was able to demolish the Kangaroos 2-0 in the series, made the farewell match even grander.
Quite characteristic of Dada, the off-side boundary was peppered and Ganguly raced his way to 85 runs in his first inning, which included his signature six over long-on. The second innings was, however, a heartbreaker for many fans as Ganguly chipped back a dolly of a catch to Jason Krejza and ended his career with a first-ball duck.
The moment of the match was yet to unfold, though, and it came during the dying stages of the match on the fifth day. As a tribute to the former Indian skipper, MS Dhoni, the newly crowned skipper handed the leadership role to the man from Kolkata.
#2 MS Dhoni
The man from Jharkhand always had something extraordinary up his sleeves which he used for catching everyone off-guard. His Test retirement was no different, which took the cricketing fraternity by surprise.
After India’s debacle in the first two Tests in the 2014-15 series against Australia, the Men in Blue needed two back-to-back wins to evade a series defeat. But, that wasn’t the case as India drew the third Test at Melbourne to erase any chances of a comeback.
Soon after the match, a BCCI press release revealed Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s decision to bid adieu to the longest format of the game, citing the strain of playing every format as the primary factor for the move. With 27 wins from 60 games as a skipper, the former Indian skipper was India’s most successful Test captain in terms of numbers.
#3 Rahul Dravid
With a sound technique, garnished by resilient approach towards the game, Rahul Dravid, was the man to look upon on during any crisis situation. Rahul Dravid’s retirement from Test cricket in 2012 brought down curtains to an auspicious Test career.
Rahul Dravid played his last Test against the Aussies in 2012 in Adelaide and though he couldn’t help India elude a 4-0 series whitewash, he already had attained heights to be deemed as one of the greats of the game. He wasn’t only tough to get on top of, but also was someone who had time and again grilled oppositions into frustration and eventually submission.
He didn’t get the luxury of playing a farewell Test but had the privilege of announcing his retirement in his home town in Bangalore in front of 200 people. With 13,288 runs in 164 matches, he concluded his career as the second highest run-getter in Test cricket.
#4 Anil Kumble
The Jumbo retired in the same series in which Sourav Ganguly hung up his boots, but Kumble said goodbye in the third Test in New Delhi. The game ended in a draw, but Kumble ensured that with a 1-0 lead in the series, India weren’t in danger of losing the series.
Kumble, in an interview, mentioned that his body wasn’t able to cope with the rigours of the game after 18 years of serving the nation. He suffered a finger injury in the third day of his farewell match which he reckoned to have made the decision easier.
Kumble came back to bowl four overs in Australia’s second innings before the match was called off with no possibilities of a result. With 619 wickets in 132 games, even after nine years of retirement, he is India’s leading wicket-taker in Test cricket.
#1 Virender Sehwag
The Nawab of Najafgargh was an epitome of plundering runs through his hand-eye co-ordination and hardly allowed oppositions to take an upper hand. Though he announced his retirement in late 2015, he played his final Test two years ago in 2013 against Australia in Hyderabad.
With 163 runs in his last nine innings at an average of just above 18, Sehwag was going through a lean patch – one that he never got to recover from. Sehwag wasn’t getting any younger at the age of 34 and his diminishing eyesight turned detrimental to what had been a stupendous career.
The Indian opener scored six runs in his final Test innings where he was caught in the slips off the bowling of Peter Siddle. The three-time triple-centurion might not have donned the Indian colours since 2013, but the belligerent batsman from Delhi will always be etched in the memories as someone who changed the concept of batting in Test cricket.
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