Is age just a number? Imran Khan proved it by coming out of retirement and captaining his side to the victory podium at the 1992 cricket World Cup. But does it work always? It is said the best time to quit sport is when you are at your peak so that you do not have to face the downfall.
But here in the list, we find cricketers who are yet to decide on their retirement and are still playing in at least one format of the game even though they have aged or have nothing else left to prove to anyone. Some of them are superstars of the game and might just want to call it quits after this season thinking they have had enough.
#5 Shahid Afridi
The Pakistan icon first stole the limelight in 1996 as a 16-year-old by blasting his way to a 37-ball hundred against a Sri Lankan side who were World Cup winners then. The leg-spinning all-rounder had featured in five 50-over World Cups and retired from ODIs just last year.
He has already quit Tests but continues to feature for his national side in T20s. After the debacle in the 2016 World T20 where Pakistan could not qualify for the knock-outs, Afridi quit captaincy but did not choose to quit. He was recently dropped from the Pakistan squad which toured England. Afridi has been a runner-up in 1999 and in 2011 he led Pakistan to the World Cup semi-final where they lost to eventual champions India. Afridi is a 36-year-old now and he just might think of hanging up his boots.
#4 Misbah-Ul-Haq
Misbah had announced his retirement from ODIs after the World Cup in 2015 but he continues to play in Test matches for Pakistan. He has been instrumental in his side’s success in the last couple of years. To say the least, he has been the batting backbone for his national side. But he is 42 now, and not getting any younger with time.
But Pakistan would not let him go because of his glittering statistics. He has scored 4,634 runs from 65 Tests matches and looks fit to carry on with a few more. But one never knows with these great players, he might just wake up someday and feel like not going to practice anymore.
#3 Rangana Herath
He might not be the most spectacular of spinners ever but what Herath has is deadly accuracy. He has led the Sri Lankan spinning unit over the last few years with aplomb be it in Test or ODIs. But now that he has retired from the shorter versions of the game, Herath only features in whites with the red ball. But he is still picking up a bagful of wickets.
In the recent series against Australia, Herath was once again brilliant for his side and helped Sri Lanka white-wash the visitors. He even picked a hat-trick in a game. Having spent a major part of his career in the shadow of the great Muttiah Muralitharan, Herath only came to the forefront in the last few years. But he is 38 now and continuing for long may get tough for him. Thoughts of retirement might just cloud his head now.
# 2 Chris Gayle
Gayle is considered to be one of the most destructive batsmen in limited overs cricket. And he has lived up to his reputation by setting records in all three formats of the game.One of such records is that Gayle is one of the only two batsmen to have scored a double hundred in an ODI World Cup.
He is only the second batsman in the history of the sport to smash more than 400 international sixes. He also holds the record for the highest individual T20 score as he powered his way to 175 in an Indian Premier League (IPL) game playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Recently he won the World T20 with West Indies.
One can just go on speaking of the records the burly Jamaican has broken but lately, he has faced a lot of fitness issues. He could not even take part in the two T20s India recently played against West Indies. So he might just think of calling it quits now.
#1 M.S Dhoni
One World Cup, one World T20 title, two IPLs, under his captaincy India were No.1 in Test rankings what more can he want? But just before the World T20 this year when a journalist had asked M.S Dhoni if he has any plans of retirement an irritated Dhoni had stated,” There will be questions, you send me letters or requisitions. If you have the freedom, it’s not right to ask all types of questions.
“It’s very important to judge everything as to what needs to be done, why it needs to be done. Because somebody has the platform to ask questions, it does not mean that you keep on asking the same questions.”
India crashed out of the World T20 from the semifinals stage and another World Cup is almost three years away but Dhoni is still keen on continuing in the limited overs format. No other Indian captain has a better ‘win’ percentage than him but recently that percentage has taken a hit.
Dhoni hasn’t been in best of forms with the bat and his finishing skills too have been found lacking recently. He retired from Tests in December 2014, will he hang up his boots now from every format now? He is 35 already and he just might decide to quit this season.
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