5 Indian cricketers who should have retired early but didn’t

There are a couple of players in this list that are yet to call time on their careers.

There is a well-known adage in the cricketing world that it's better to finish out on top rather than being pushed out. It means its better to call time on your career in order to establish one’s legacy, instead of tarnishing it by going on and on.

Some of the cricketers like Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath, Sourav Ganguly, and Graeme Smith's retirements were perfectly timed. Even the likes of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman decided to walk away from the limelight when they knew their prowess was diminishing rather than trying to latch onto that last hope of glory.

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However, there have been some Indian cricketers who have didn't get that memo and overstayed their welcome. Some who should have bid goodbye to the game long before they actually did and that has somewhat left a bad taste in the mouth of fans and fellow cricketers whose career was obstructed due to others.

Team COC presents to you the five cricketers who should have retired long before then they actually did.

Check out the Top 5 Indian cricketers who should have retired early but didn’t

HARBHAJAN SINGH

Harbhajan Singh is not technically retired from the game, but it is safe to say that he is no longer in the contention for the Indian team. The ‘turbanator’ had made his debut long back in 1998 as a 17-year-old and went on to etch a legendary career for himself.

"Couldn't see a single ball of Laxman-Dravid partnership thanks to Tendulkar," says Harbhajan Singh

After an initial roadblock that was the legitimacy of his bowling action, Harbhajan bamboozled batsmen right, left and center and formed the perfect combination with Anil Kumble in Tests in India. His peak came when he single-handedly shouldered the Indian bowling in the epic 2001 India-Australia Test series in which he picked 32 wickets in 3 Tests, including the first-ever Test hat-trick by an Indian.

However, over time, form and injuries took a toll on the spinner and was replaced in the team with the likes of Pragyan Ojha and R Ashwin. In his career, Harbhajan has 417 Test wickets in 103 matches, 269 ODI wickets in 236 matches and 25 scalps in 28 T20I matches so far. His last Test and ODI game for India came in 2015, while the last T20I came in 2016.

However, he has still not called time on his career and has been busy on the T20 circuit. He was part of Mumbai Indian for 10 years, winning three titles with them and then won the IPL in 2018 with Chennai Super Kings. The tweaker is still hopeful for a miracle and not called time on his international or T20 career, tarnishing a well-built legacy.

YUVRAJ SINGH

Another Punjab-born cricketer who was amazingly talented and touched the skies with his performance for Team India is Yuvraj Singh. The left-handed hard-hitting batsman made his India debut in 2000 at the age of 18 years and made a brilliant first impression by making 80-odd runs against Australia in his maiden outing with the bat.

Since then, he became one of the most valued members of the team thanks to his amazing fielding in the circle, his left-arm off-breaks and also his hard-hitting batting down the order. Though he played 40 Tests, he couldn’t manage to cement his spot in the team, something that even he regrets.

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However, Yuvraj remains one of the all-time great limited-overs players with his exploits in ODIs and T20Is, including his six sixes in an over against England in 2007 World T20, which India won.

But what no one can forget was his spirited fight in the 2011 World Cup where he starred with both the bat and the ball, earning the Player of the Tournament award. But his fight with lung cancer left him struggling to achieve peak fitness afterward, and a knee injury reduced his fielding prowess as well.

His lowest point was the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh, where he struggled throughout with the bat, including in the final, which India lost to Sri Lanka.

Yuvraj should have taken the hint and called time on his career then but managed to make a comeback in 2017, making his highest ODI score of 150 against England at home. But after that, he was dropped for more fitter players and after several tries to make another comeback and a rather disappointing IPL 2019, he called time on his career the same year.

KAPIL DEV

Kapil Dev was like a breath of fresh air in the Indian Test scene in the late 70s, as he was the first true fast bowler that the Indian fans had seen after the likes of Mohammad Nissar and Amar Singh in the 1930s. Born in Chandigarh, Kapil fancied himself as a swing bowler and quickly became an integral part of the Indian team.

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He went onto captain India to their maiden World Cup win in 1983 in England toppling two-time champions and fan favorites West Indies in the final. Kapil also captained the team to semi-finals of the 1987 World Cup, which was held partially at home. His batting was well ahead of its time, as he preferred aggression to anything else. His one and only ODI century-175* came in the 1983 World Cup in trying circumstances and is regarded as one of the all-time greatest knocks.

Unfortunately, as he chased Sir Richard Hadlee’s record of 431 Test wickets at the fag end of his career, he struggled to get wickets and finally broke the record in 1994 against Sri Lanka, but by that time, he was being swept on one knee by batsmen.

Not only that but in the last three years of his career, Kapil Dev hindered the progress of a young Javagal Srinath, who was regarded as one of the fastest bowlers when he debuted in 1991 and but was often used as the first-change bowler with an old ball. It took him 3 years after his ODI debut, to play his maiden Test, because of Kapil’s presence.

He definitely overstayed his welcome in chasing some glory.

MS DHONI

An unpopular choice, MS Dhoni is widely regarded as the best ever Indian captain in limited-overs. He has the trophies in the cabinet to back this claim, with ICC World T20 2007, ICC World Cup 2011 and ICC Champions Trophy 2013 medals around his neck, apart from numerous bilateral series win including the first-ever tri-series win in Australia in 2008.

“Dhoni's comeback into the Indian fold looks very difficult”, reckons Sehwag

Dhoni-led India to semi-finals of the 2015 World Cup in Australia, having retired from Test cricket a year earlier. Many thought that his ODI retirement would also follow soon and the speculations were not baseless. Dhoni, once of the hardest and biggest hitters of the ball, was losing that power in the end and required help from the likes of Hardik Pandya to finish games.

When 2018 and 2019 approached fans seemingly had an inkling that the end was near, but a stunning comeback in the IPL 2018, where he led the CSK team to the win, gave new wind to his career and he continued till the 2019 World Cup. However, he hasn’t been seen on the cricket field since India’s defeat in semi-finals.

The selectors have moved on from him since then giving umpteen chances to Rishabh Pant and now KL Rahul. However, MS Dhoni is still in the frame for a return for T20 World Cup 2020, if he shows he still got it. Unfortunately, the greatest finisher in ODI and T20I cricket should have called time on his career after the 2016 World T20, where India reached the semis. It would have kept his legacy intact, instead of the current questions of whether he should continue or not.

SACHIN TENDULKAR

Another choice that might not go down well with the fans, along with MS Dhoni, but there is a majority of people that think that Sachin Tendulkar should have retired from the game after the crowning glory of the 2011 World Cup, which completed the only thing missing from his legendary career.

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Tendulkar holds the record for most runs, most centuries in both Tests and ODIs and has also played most matches-463 ODIs and 200 Tests in international cricket. He is the only man to make 100 international centuries and play 200 Tests. Tendulkar’s career started at the age of 16 in 1989 and ended in 2013 at the age of 40.

However, post the 2011 World Cup, playing cricket for over 20 years had taken the toll on Tendulkar’s body and age had slowed down his reflexes as well. The conquest for the 100^th international hundred kept him going on and once that was reached in 2012 with his 49^th ODI century, he retired from ODI cricket.

However, he continued toiling in Tests making just 1229 runs at an average of 32.32 in his last 23 matches without a single century.

Had he retired from international cricket after the high of 2011 World Cup, Tendulkar’s legacy would have been etched in gold without such laments in afterthought.