5 Cricketers who might retire from one format soon due to hectic schedule

It takes a lot of pain and effort along with countless sacrifices to become an international cricketer, but it is even more difficult to sustain and perform consistently across formats especially with a packed international calendar every year. Apart from making themselves available in all three formats at the highest level, the players also have the tedious task of playing franchise cricket across the globe, especially in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Recently, star England all-rounder Ben Stokes took the tough decision of retiring from One Day Internationals due to the hectic schedule and his inability to give a 100% in this format. However, the southpaw has confirmed his availability for Tests and T20Is. This is a huge blow for England as they gear up for their title defense in next year’s 50-over World Cup in India. Meanwhile, there are five players who might bid adieu to at least one format this year.

Without further ado, here’s a look at all of them.

5. Trent Boult (Tests)

Trent Boult has been spearheading the New Zealand pace attack for a long time now. He has been active for the Kiwis across formats and also features in the IPL. Despite playing the game continually, Boult’s pace has not seemed to have slowed down a bit. However, the left-arm speedster might think about quitting Test cricket going forward.

Boult has so far played 78 Tests and has 317 scalps to his name at an economy of three with his career-best bowling figures being 6/30. He took 16 wickets in the three-match series against England last month including a fifer. While he is consistent in this format of the game, Trent might look to sacrifice his red-ball career in order to prolong his white-ball career.

Trent Boult would be turning 33 on July 22 and with age not on his side, he will need to slow down a bit in order to keep himself fit and injury-free with a few more years of cricket left in him.

4. Shakib Al Hasan (Tests)

Shakib Al Hasan has been one of Bangladesh cricket’s chief guardians for the last one-and-a-half decade both as a leader and on the field with his all-round excellence. Even Shakib has been making himself available for all three formats and at the same time, takes time off from his busy schedule to play franchise leagues all over the world.

Meanwhile, the year 2022 saw Shakib Al Hasan take an indefinite break from the longest format. He first pulled out from the away Test series against New Zealand citing ‘personal’ reasons and then left the South Africa tour midway in order to attend to his family members who were hospitalized.

Now, with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) not confident of awarding him a Test contract in the future, it seems that the veteran all-rounder could bring curtains down on his Test career soon. He has so far scored 4251 runs in 63 matches and also has 225 wickets to his name.

3. Kane Williamson (T20Is)

Kane Williamson has been New Zealand’s batting mainstay across all formats and has also accomplished a lot as a skipper in the last few years leading the BlackCaps to the finals of the ODI World Cup 2019 and T20 World Cup 2021. He had also led them to an ICC World Test Championship triumph last year.

However, Williamson, the batter, seems to have been a pale shadow of himself in the last few months especially, with that elbow injury that is keeping him out of action regularly. Now, the Tauranga cricketer might be thinking of leaving at least one format and that could be T20Is after the conclusion of the T20 World Cup this November.

With stand-in captain Mitchell Santner doing a pretty well in the shortest format in Williamson’s absence, he would have absolutely no hesitation in discontinuing from this form of the game. Williamson has so far amassed 2021 runs from 74 T20Is at a strike rate of 123.98.

2. Steve Smith (T20Is)

Steve Smith has been one of the strongest pillars of Australian cricket for over a decade. From starting his international career as a leg-spinner in 2010 to emerging as one of the finest Test batters in the modern-day game, Smith has indeed come a long way in an era where the Aussies won two world titles (2015 ODI World Cup and 2021 T20 World Cup).

While Smith has been a force to reckon with in Tests and One Day Internationals, he has not managed to click equally well in the shortest format. In the 57 T20Is that he has played so far, Steven has only managed 928 runs at a dismal average of 26.51 which is quite bizarre for a batter of his calibre.

Therefore, Steve Smith might consider bidding adieu to T20Is after the conclusion of this year’s T20 World Cup in his home country.

1. Virat Kohli (T20Is)

Last, but not the least, this is indeed a surprise element. Virat Kohli, who once ruled all three formats at the same time like a king with the bat in hand, has witnessed a slump in form in the past couple of years that has now seen him slip out of the top 10 positions in both the Tests and T20Is rankings even though he occupies the fourth spot in ODIs.

After relinquishing captaincy from all formats, Kohli may now consider stepping away from T20Is in order to focus on Tests and ODIs going forward. In the recently-concluded England T20I series, the batting megastar could only manage scores of one and 11 in two games. He has been rested from the upcoming West Indies T20Is and will now be in action during the Asia Cup in August-September.

As far as Virat’s illustrious T20I career is concerned, he has so far amassed 3308 runs from 99 T20Is at an outstanding strike rate of 137.66. In fact, he was also adjudged the Player of the Tournament in the 2014 and 2016 editions of the T20 World Cup.