5 cricketers who had a sad ending to their international careers

Retirements are always some of the bitterest moments in any sport. After serving and representing country in that particular sport for several years, and entertaining millions of people all around the world, the player calls it a day. The replacement of that particular player or a group of players may take years and sometimes a team may not be able to replace them at all. The team goes through a transition period and that is when the team experiences difficulty while replacing those.

For instance, Windies, starting from the mid-1970s to early 1990s were totally unbeatable. They had brought together world-class quality bowlers in Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding in a space of just a few years. Along with it, a captain in Clive Lloyd and arguably their finest batsman had made them the Test match champions and never lost a Test match for a span of 12 years.

Australia, from the period of late 1990s to 2009 were the most dominant in world cricket, however, the fall from grace meant that Australia are still struggling to find suitable replacements for senior players. There are some players who had the perfect swansong to their glorious careers like Alastair Cook, Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Jacques Kallis. While there were a handful of them who were denied a deservedly perfect send-off. We take a look at a few of the cricketers who had a sad international ending to their careers.

5. Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid was easily one of the greatest batsmen in the world. He was best known as “The Wall” because of his ability to bat for long hours and hence proving to be a nightmare for the bowlers. He made his debut against England at Lord’s in the year 1996, playing a very defiant inning, however, missed out on a well-deserved century by just five runs.

Currently, the 45-year old is the fourth highest run scorer behind Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Jacques Kallis with 13,288 runs in 164 Tests. Being a red-ball specialist, Dravid holds several records in Test cricket. He is also the first and the only player till date to score a century in all the ten Test-playing nations.

Dravid, even though being in the twilight of his career was in sparkling form, scoring 461 runs at an average of just over 76 with three hundreds in India’s dismal tour of England in 2011. The tour of Australia later in the year marked his final appearance in international cricket. With India suffering another whitewash at the hands of Australia, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman both announced their retirement from international cricket after enduring a poor series. A player of a caliber as high as Rahul Dravid bowed out of international cricket in a profusely sad manner.

4. VVS Laxman

VVS Laxman was one of the few underrated players and the unsung hero of Indian cricket. The name VVS is sometimes also called as “Very Very Special”. A lower-middle order batsman, he was known for playing numerous match-saving innings and his capability to bat along with the lower-order batsmen.

ne of the most notable innings of his came against a tough Australian team of the early 2000s. In reply to Australia’s first innings score of 445, India could manage only 171, leaving behind a deficit of 274 to make Australia bat again.  India, batting in their second innings showed much more resilience than the first innings, setting a target of 384 runs for Australia and the series ultimately, bouncing back from the crushing defeat in the first test of the series. Laxman was especially prolific against Australia, plundering six out of his 17 test hundreds. He also has two double centuries, both against Australia.

The tour of Australia in 2011 was one of the leanest series which the 44-year old had undergone. India went down 0-4 to Australia and Laxman could score only two half-centuries in eight innings. For the first time in four tours of Australia, Laxman was unable to register a century. On 18th August 2012, Laxman announced his international retirement with several former cricketers called for his retirement after enduring an abysmal series. Laxman’s last test resulted in a 0-4 belting of India in favor of Australia which was by no means a fitting retirement match.

3. Sanath Jayasuriya

Sanath Jayasuriya was a powerful left-handed batsman and was one of the few players at the beginning along with Muttiah Muralitharan, Arjuna Ranatunga, and Aravinda de Silva who paved the way for Sri Lanka’s rise to international cricket. He was an integral part when Sri Lanka won their maiden World Cup in the year 1996, beating Australia. In the same World Cup, he was adjudged the man of the tournament for his contribution with both bat and ball.

He is one of the few batsmen, who was credited for redefining the attacking role of play with his explosive batting partnership along with Romesh Kaluwitharana in 1996. A frontline all-rounder, Jayasuriya is the only player in the history of one-day international cricket to capture 300 wickets and score over 12000 runs. He also served as the captain of the national team from 1999 to 2003.

Jayasuriya held the record for the fastest fifty, fastest hundred and fastest 150 until the records were broken by AB de Villiers from South Africa. He was the most capped player in one-day cricket until it was broken by Sachin Tendulkar. Jayasuriya played his retirement match on 28th June 2011 against England in one-day cricket. He took the wicket of Ian Bell.

However, he couldn’t translate the same by scoring a good amount of runs and fell for just 2. Jayasuriya undoubtedly was one of the unforgettable players in one-day cricket and his contributions to Sri Lankan cricket remain unparalleled.

2. Ricky Ponting

Ricky “Punter” Ponting was undeniably Australia’s greatest batsman since Don Bradman. Batting at No.3, for the most part of his career, he had solidified that position as his own. He was at the heart of Australia’s most dominant era, steering his team to two World Cup victories and two champions trophy victories for a good measure. Ricky Ponting is the only player to be part of 100 Test victories.

Punter currently sits second in the chart of most runs scored in Test cricket only behind Sachin Tendulkar with 13,378 runs at an average of just above 51. He made his debut at Perth against Sri Lanka and scored 96. After that for a year or two, he was in and out of the team for disciplinary reasons but came back strongly and cemented his position in the national team.

Ponting, the captain had to deal with two distinct eras in his reign. In spite of this, he managed to keep his team in the top of the ODI table. In total, Ponting had captained his team in 77 Tests, with 48 resulting in victories. He holds the most victories as a captain in one-day cricket with 165 wins in 230 matches.

He played his last international match against South Africa, being a Test match. For Ponting, he was back where it all started. He was greeted by the Proteas with a guard of honor. However, a magnificent career was dashed by a huge defeat in the match and a series defeat at home. Ponting could score only six runs across two innings.

1. Rangana Herath

The Sri Lankan off-spinner, for most part of his career, was always in the shadow of Muttiah Muralitharan. He always used to play second fiddle to the legendary off-spinner. As a result of this, he used to remain in and out of the side. It was only during the final years of Muralitharan and after his retirement that Herath assumed the role of being a go-to bowler for his team. Herath’s best performance came against the Australians in 2016. Herath was named the man of the series for taking 28 wickets across three Tests as Sri Lanka clean swept the series with 3-0 to their name.

This was followed by another match winning series against Pakistan in the UAE. Pakistan had a formidable record in the UAE, however, Sri Lanka with their bowling effort won the Test series with a clean slate. Sri Lanka emerged with another series whitewash against South Africa in 2018.

Herath played his last Test against England at Galle in November 2018. He took three wickets in the match, however, Ben Foakes’ century in his debut in first innings followed by Keaton Jennings’ century in the second innings set England a target of 462 to win. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 250, resulting in an away rare Test win for England. A poor batting performance from Sri Lanka in the first innings meant that Herath couldn’t get a fairytale ending to his career. Having made his debut in 1999, Herath took 433 wickets in 93 Tests.