6 Players who announced international retirement and then made a comeback
These players had the zeal to serve the country longer and hence changed their decision.
3. Shahid Afridi
Often hailed as ‘Lala’ by his fans, Shahid Afridi has been one of finest all-rounders, the world cricket has ever seen. He made his international debut in an ODI fixture against Zimbabwe in 1996, and then featured in his first Test match in 1998. Although he had a good start in Test format, he retired in 2006, but came back in a matter of few weeks. In 2010, he served as the captain of Pakistan against England, which was his last Test appearance, and finally hanged his boots from the red-ball format.
After the loss in the semi-finals against India in the 2011 World Cup, he was sacked from the leadership role, and as a result he decided to retire from international cricket in May 2011. But the all-rounder again made a comeback after five months and featured in a bilateral series against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
After an early exit of the Pakistan team in the 2015 World Cup, Afridi took his final retirement in the ODI format. He kept featuring in the T20 format, until 2016, and finally retired in 2017 from the shortest format as well. Across all three formats, he garnered over 10,000 runs and picked up more than 500 wickets.
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