5 legends who prolonged their careers unnecessarily

One of the things that tend to define your legacy as a cricketer is the timing of our retirement. There is a famous saying that retires when fans ask ‘Why’ and not carry on with the career when all that cricketing folklore can ask is ‘When’. The retirement of cricketers like Adam Gilchrist, AB de Villiers, Sourav Ganguly is a perfect illustration of the aforementioned fact. Each of these cricketers called time on their career at their pomp and the fans were left asking the same question: WHY? Why did he retire when he could have easily played for a few more years? But such examples remain few and far in between. Often we have seen legendary cricketers, who for one reason or the other, delayed the inevitable and by the time curtains drew, they were a mere shadow of their former selves. (Note: This article consists of the list of cricketers who have already announced their retirement.) Here’s the list: 1. Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Tendulkar. (Photo by Frank Coppi/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images) Now, this is the name that will not go down well with a lot of fans around the world. Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar enthralled the folklore throughout his celebrated 24-year-old career with his grit, strokeplay and his insatiable love for the game. But, the past two years of his International career- post the 2011 World Cup— saw Tendulkar’s numbers dwindle significantly, and one could see the pressure of scoring that elusive 100th hundred and the of-course the effects of reflexes getting slowed down as time wore on. Following the 2010-11 series in South Africa where Tendulkar scored his 50th Test hundred, Master Blaster’s last 23 Tests yielded him just 1229 runs at an average of 32.32 without a single century, and one feels that if him retiring immediately after the 2011 World Cup triumph- especially from One-day International cricket- would have been ideal. 2. Ricky Ponting Ricky Ponting. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images) Ricky Ponting achieved almost everything that a cricketer can do on a cricket field. The former Australian captain was the bedrock of his batting unit for a decade and a half where he scored runs across all attacks in every condition possible. The stylish Tasmanian batsman led Australia to two back-to-back World Cup victories and was a part of several Ashes-winning campaigns throughout his career. But unlike most Aussies, who retired at their peak, the past two and a half years of Punter’s career looked like a dragon. From December 2010 till the end of his career two years later against South Africa, Ponting could manage just 1058 runs in 18 Tests at an average of 34.12- a far cry from his career of 54.27 in 150 Tests prior to that. Ironically, the hook shot, which has been USP throughout his career, had become his weaker suit and Michael Clarke later revealed that had Ponting not called time on his career in 2012, he would have been dropped. 3. Kapil Dev Kapil Dev. (Photo by Bob Thomas/Getty Images) Kapil Dev came as a breath of fresh air in Indian cricket. At a time where just three things dominated Indian cricket- run-scoring machines like Sunil Gavaskar, cricketers from metropolis centres and the spin-quartet-led by Bishan Singh Bedi- Kapil Dev’s– a small town boy– success as a brilliant seam-bowling all-rounder gave wings of aspirations to a lot of upcoming Indian cricketers to take up pace bowling. But, as with many great cricketers, it felt that the Haryana Hurricane overstayed his time. By the time he brought down curtains to his career- in 1994- he was no more than a trundler, and it was felt due to his overstay, Javagal Srinath, who was at the peak of his powers as far as pace is concerned- had to wait for 3 years after he made his ODI debut, before playing a Test match for India. From June 1992 till his retirement in 1994, the 1983-World Cup-winning captain could only manage 33 wickets in 16 Tests- a sharp contrast to the fact that he claimed his first 401 wickets in a mere 115 matches. 4. Yuvraj Singh Yuvraj Singh. (Photo by Nigel French/PA Images via Getty Images) Another name that will evoke a lot of reactions from fans. Yuvraj’s career was a career of two contrasting and unfortunate halves. While in the first half (2000-2011), he was India’s biggest matchwinner and a bedrock of their batting unit in the middle-order, the southpaw’s career took a tumultuous turn post the 2011 World Cup triumph. Yuvraj was diagnosed with a rare germ cell cancer. But, as they say, adversity tends to bring out a beast in you. And, it did in Yuvraj. The southpaw made a return to international cricket after having fully recovered from the life-threatening injury. But, as much as we celebrated Yuvi’s comeback, it just wasn’t the same. And, expectedly so. As years progressed, Yuvraj would once in a while show a glimpse of his precocious skills but we could never see the same amount of consistency that we were used to seeing from the champion cricketer. It was painful to see Yuvraj struggle in the final of the 2014 T20 World Cup against Sri Lanka, and it was equally painful to see him warm the bench in the Indian Premier League, a tournament where he was once a marquee player. 5. Javed Miandad Javed Miandad. (Photo Source: Twitter) Another sub-continental giant, who it felt, unnecessarily prolonged his career after having achieved almost everything as a cricketer, is Pakistan’s Javed Miandad. Miandad played a total of six World Cups and spearheaded the Pakistani batting unit with aplomb during the 80s as well as early 90s. But one feels that the former captain should have retired for good post the 1992 World Cup triumph because his performances only went downhill from there. Right from the day he made his ODI debut (11 June 1975) till the start of January 1993, Miandad as Pakistan’s leading run-scorer- 6737 runs in 205 matches at an average of 42.91. Those numbers took a significant dip in the last three years of his career where he managed just 590 runs in 25 matches at an average of 32.77.

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5 legends who prolonged their careers unnecessarily

Often we have seen legendary cricketers, who for one reason or the other, delayed the inevitable.

5. Javed Miandad

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