6 Indian cricketers who announced retirement at least a couple of years after their last international game

Retirement is a tricky decision. Everyone cricketer who plays for his country wants to finish on a high, with one final hurrah. However, not everyone is as lucky as say a Sachin Tendulkar.

Many Indian cricketers who play with distinction for the country get dropped due to lack of form or fitness or the age factor. While some choose to give up, others go back to the hard grind of domestic cricket, to try and break open the door to international cricket yet again. Some succeed while others realize that they have reached a dead end, and hang up their boots.

Presently, there is talk surrounding veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, with reports claiming he might finally announce his retirement from international cricket to take part in the inaugural season of England’s ‘The Hundred’. However, there is no official confirmation of this same yet.

Harbhajan last played for India in 2016. At 39, it is highly unlikely that he will represent the country again.

In this feature, we take a look at 6 Indian cricketers who announced their retirement at least a couple of years after they last played for the national team.

#6 Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir

The hero of India’s 2007 World T20 and 2011 World Cup triumphs called it a day in December 2018.

After a consistent run in the Indian team from 2007 to 2012, the left-hander began losing form as his weakness outside the off-stump was exploited by bowlers around the world. He made a couple of comebacks in 2014 and 2016, but managed only one fifty in his last five Tests.

Gambhir’s last international match was the Test against England at Rajkot in November 2016.

He finished his career with 4154 runs in 58 Tests averaging 41.95, and 5238 runs in 147 ODIs at an average of 39.68. In all he scored 20 international hundreds - 9 in Tests and 11 in ODIs.

Further, in 37 T20s, Gambhir managed 932 runs with a highest of 75 - in the 2007 World T20 final.

The former cricketer has since entered politics, and is a BJP MP from East Delhi.

#5 Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag

Gambhir’s long-time opening partner also retired a while after he played his last international match. In fact, Gambhir and Sehwag had a similar end to their international careers as both lost form almost simultaneously.

After scoring a Test hundred in Ahmedabad against England in November 2012, Sehwag only managed a highest of 30 in his last six Tests. The Test against Australia at Hyderabad in March 2013, in which he managed only six, turned out to be his last international match. India won the Test by an innings and 135 runs.

With no comeback in sight, Sehwag announcement his retirement from international cricket in October 2015. He finished with 8586 runs from 104 Test matches with 23 Test hundreds, and 8273 runs with 15 centuries in ODIs. In 19 T20s, he scored 394 runs.

Sehwag still holds the records for the highest Test score by an Indian - 319. He also has an ODI double hundred to his name and is the only Indian cricketer with two Test triple hundreds. These days he dabbles in commentary, and is known for his wit on Twitter.

Also see – World Test Championship Schedule

#4 RP Singh

RP Singh

Once a promising Indian pace prospect, RP Singh couldn’t quite fulfil his potential and ended up retiring from international cricket in September 2018, merely at the age of 32. After winning the man of the match award on Test debut at Faisalabad against Pakistan in January 2006, he was part of India’s 2007 World T20 campaign, and also played a key role in India’s famous Test win at Perth in 2008.

Singh, however, couldn’t perform consistently. He was on holiday when asked to play The Oval Test in 2011, but once in the team he went wicketless and was never picked again for Tests.

His last international match was an ODI against England at Cardiff in September 2011.

Singh finished with 40 wickets in Tests from 14 matches, 69 wickets in ODIs from 58 games and 15 wickets in T20s from 10 matches.

#3 Praveen Kumar

Praveen Kumar

Praveen Kumar’s rise and fall was similar to that of RP Singh’s. He first came into prominence during the CB series final against Australia in 2007-08, where he was the man of the match as India shocked the Aussies in the latter’s home den. Kumar, with his ability to swing the ball, also claimed a five-for at Lord’s during the miserable 2011 tour.

However, injury and anger management issues meant he was more out of the team than in. Having last played for India in a T20 International against South Africa at Johannesburg in March 2012, Kumar announced his retirement from the sport, like RP Singh, at the age of 32, in October 2018.

Kumar claimed 77 wickets in 68 ODIs, 27 wickets in six Tests and 8 wickets in 10 T20s.

#2 Ajit Agarkar

Ajit Agarkar

The Mumbai seamer, often seen as an enigma in Indian cricket for his inability to deliver consistently despite his obvious talent, was a permanent fixture in the Indian ODI side from early to the mid-2000s. He formed a successful pairing with Javagal Srinath, who was in the twilight of his career then, and later, with Zaheer Khan.

However, by 2007, his skills had begun to wane. After a disastrous 2007 World Cup, he was part of the World T20-winning squad but had no major role to play in it. His last international game was the World T20 contest against New Zealand in September 2007 in which he ended with figures of 0 for 40.

Agarkar retired from all cricket in October 2013. He took 288 ODI wickets from 191 matches and 58 from 26 Tests. In T20s, he claimed 3 wickets in four games.

Agarkar once held the record for being the fastest man to reach 50 ODI wickets and also for scoring the fastest ODI fif by an Indian. He scored a Test century at Lord’s in 2002, and claimed 6 for 41 in the famous win at Adelaide in 2003.

#1 Vinod Kambli

Vinod Kambli

Agarkar’s long-time Mumbai teammate Vinod Kambli had a rollicking start to his international career, which hit a rocky path much sooner than expected. After being dropped from the Indian team, rather inexplicably, despite having a decent World Cup in 1996, Kambli was never the same again.

Having made consecutive Test double hundreds in 1993, Kambli played his last Test in November 1995.

The southpaw kept making ODI comebacks into the Indian team, but could never find his groove again. His last international match was against Sri Lanka at Sharjah in October 2000.

Apart from cricket, Kambli dabbled in film and TV shows, and eventually announced retirement from international cricket in 2009.

Kambli made 1084 runs in 17 Tests averaging 54.20, and 2477 runs in 104 ODIs at an average of 32.59. These days he has joined hands with old friend Sachin Tendulkar, and is training young kids in the game in Mumbai.