Judging by the list of tournaments in cricket’s itinerary for 2015, It is also evident that a lot of cricketers are either over 30 years or too injured to continue playing cricket.
Judging by the list of tournaments in cricket’s itinerary for 2015, it could be said that the year will be an interesting one for the sport.
The ICC Cricket World Cup would be played in February-March in Australia and New Zealand, followed by the Ashes in July in England.
Nevertheless, it is also evident that a lot of these players are either over 30 years or too injured to continue playing cricket.
This list features the names of cricketers, who might bid adieu to the sport by the end of the year 2015 –
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies)
The West Indian southpaw made his international cricket debut in 1994 when he was only 19 years old. Chanderpaul has seen the best and the worst in his cricketing career. Thanks to several injuries in the initial stages of his career, he was labelled as a hypochondriac. However, one operation later, he has been consistent with bat as well as a steady part of the West Indian team. Presently, he is 40 years old and has scored over 11,000 runs in Test cricket.
Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan)
Misbah is the current captain of the Pakistani Test and ODI teams. He is the only other cricketer in his forties to be playing international cricket at the moment. He made his international debut for Pakistan at the age of 28 in 2001 against New Zealand. His playing style in ODIs is usually slow followed by brisk hitting at the end of an inning. In Tests, he takes his time to make runs. However, in November last year, he made the joint fastest century in Tests off 56 balls against Australia.
Daniel Vettori (New Zealand)
Daniel Vettori became the youngest person to represent New Zealand in cricket when he made his debut at the age of 18 in 1996. Nicknamed ‘Harry Potter’ by his team mates for his signature glasses, the 35-year-old veteran left-arm off spinner would like to end the year on a high, if that is the case. Though Vettori retired from ODIs and T20 in 2011, his name has currently been included in the 15-man New Zealand squad for ICC World Cup 2015.
Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka)
Jayawardene is 37 years and has already retired from international T20. He also called it quits from Test cricket in August and ended his career in the format with a win over Pakistan. He has been one of the consistent players in the Sri Lankan dressing room since making his debut against India in 1997. Jayawardene will be part of the Sri Lanka team participating in Australia and New Zealand in the 2015 ICC World Cup.
Michael Clarke (Australia)
This name might come as a surprise for many readers, this retirement might actually happen. Though he is only 33 and still plays all three formats in cricket, Clarke only captains the Australian Test team. He suffered a serious injury to his back and spoke in the media about possibly not being able to play for Australia again. Though he is still hopeful of featuring in the 2015 ICC World Cup and the Ashes series against England in July, only time will tell whether or not we will see the player in action ever.
