Legendary Indian cricketers announced sudden retirement so they did not get a single match for their farewell. The debate over farewell matches has cropped up time and again after legendary players retire from international cricket. Here is a list of six cricketing greats from the Indian national cricket team who retired without playing a farewell match.
Shikhar Dhawan
Shikhar Dhawan, captain of the Indian national cricket team, is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm off-spin bowler. He made his international debut in 2010 and has set notable records, including the highest run-scoring record at a U-19 World Cup and the fastest run-scoring record at an ICC ODI tournament. Dhawan has also been controversial after his ex-wife filed a defamation complaint against him. His salary from IPL 2023 is INR 8.25 crore and his estimated net worth is INR 96 crore.
On 24 August 2024, Dhawan announced his retirement from all forms of cricket and didn’t get last farewell match.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, popularly known as MS Dhoni, is an Indian cricketer who has won numerous records and awards throughout his career. He is the first Indian wicketkeeper to achieve 4,000 Test runs and holds the record for most dismissals in an innings and career by an Indian wicketkeeper. Dhoni has also won major tournaments and holds several records as a batsman and wicketkeeper. He has received various awards and honors, including the Padma Bhushan and ICC ODI Player of the Year. Dhoni has also faced controversies, including tax evasion controversy and spot match-fixing scandal. He has played most of the international matches as captain and his net worth is around INR 103 billion.
Legendary Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni bid farewell to international cricket on India’s Independence Day, August 15, 2020.
Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh is one of the best off-spinners India has ever produced, making his debut for India as a teenager in the late 1990s. He shot to the limelight in 2001 when he took 32 wickets in three Tests against Australia and established himself as one of India’s leading strike bowlers for the next decade. He was part of successful Indian teams that won the 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa and the 2011 World Cup on home soil. In the IPL, he was a senior member of Mumbai Indians for the first decade and was part of three title-winning teams. In 2011, he took five wickets in a win against Chennai Super Kings. While his bowling caught the eye, he also contributed with his batting further down the batting order, his innings of 64 against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in 2015 showing what he is capable of. In 2018, Harbhajan moved to Chennai Super Kings and won another title in a fairytale season. He will represent the third team in the IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders.
The ace off-spinner announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on Friday, 24th December
Virender Sehwag
The first thing to cross a cricket fan’s mind when we say Virender Sehwag is his several instances of a first-ball boundary. The one-of-its-kind batting cyclone that World Cricket has ever seen, Virender Sehwag, hung his boots in October 2015.
The former India opener is well known for two triple centuries, four double centuries, and 23 tons in his overall test career. Viru has also scored 15 centuries in ODIs, which includes a double century.
Sehwag was awarded ICC Test Player of the Year in 2010. Despite being such an explosive player and securing unimaginable records, Virender Sehwag retired without playing a farewell match.
Sehwag retired from all forms of international cricket on 20 October 2015.
Yuvraj Singh
One of the most explosive middle-order has ever seen, Yuvraj Singh, who is capable of giving a nightmare to any bowling attack in the world, has played some beyond-imagination knocks in his international career.
One of these knocks remains to be from the 2007 ICC World T20 in South Africa against England when Yuvi went on to blast Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over, following a heated verbal exchange with all-rounder Andrew Flintoff.
In a career spanning over 17 years, Yuvi scored 11,778 runs. Yuvraj remains one of the most talented players in India and he has proved it on numerous occasions.
After the 2011 World Cup, Yuvraj was diagnosed with cancer, and he had to take a year-long break from international cricket for his treatment. When everyone believed that his career was over, he bounced back stronger than ever before. However, he couldn’t find a fixed place in the squad as the Indian cricket team was going through a transitional phase.
Yuvraj Singh retired in 2017 without playing a farewell game.
Zaheer Khan
With 311 Test wickets, 282 ODI wickets, and an overall 44 wickets in the World Cups between 2003-2011, Zaheer Khan remains to be one of the most successful bowlers India has ever seen.
Zaheer Khan was the first bowler in the world to introduce knuckleball. In the 2011 World Cup, Zaheer Khan troubled the top-most batsmen of the world with his new bowling variation.
In 2015, Zaheer Khan decided to bid adieu to international cricket without playing a farewell match. Later, in 2017, he was also appointed as the bowling consultant for the Indian Cricket Team.
Zaheer Khan announced his retirement from international and first-class cricket on 15 October 2015.
Gautam Gambhir
Who could forget the magnificent knock of 97 runs on the night of the finals of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup at the Wankhede Stadium by one of India’s finest openers, Gautam Gambhir? In a career spanning over a decade, Gautam Gambhir has taken India off the mark single-handedly on many occasions.
Apart from the 2011 World Cup gig, Gambhir is well known for his unmatchable form in all three formats. Gambhir was named ICC Player of the Year in 2009 and also named in the World ODI XI by ICC in 2012. He also held the position of the Team India captain for a brief period.
Despite all these achievements, this legend had to bid adieu to international cricket in 2018 without playing a farewell match. Gambhir played his last ODI in 2013.
Gambhir retired from all forms of cricket in March 2019
Suresh Raina
Suresh Raina was not an active player and sat on the bench for the first few months of 2011. Initially, Raina was not in a fit state to secure a regular place in the team, so captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni selected Yusuf Pathan in place of Suresh Raina. Later, Virender Sehwag sustained a serious injury and Raina took his place and performed consistently against the West Indies.
Seeing Raina’s performance, Dhoni, the team’s captain, devised a new strategy and selected Suresh Raina instead of Yusuf Pathan for the quarter-final against defending champions Australia. Thus, Raina played a crucial role. He scored 34 runs off 28 balls and was Yuvraj Singh’s consistent partner. This ultimately led India to the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Furthermore, his performance in the semi-final against Pakistan was phenomenal. He linked up with the lower-order team to reach a final score of 260, contributing 36 runs.
In the semi-final, he played a crucial role by taking a catch off Younis Khan off the bowling of Yuvraj Singh. This helped the Indian team win the 2011 ICC World Cup. “Raina won the World Cup for us with some crucial shots,” coach Gary Kirsten said of Raina.
T20I jersey No. On 15 August 2020, Raina announced his retirement from all formats of international cricket.
