Cricket is said to be a game where players continue to play till their late 30s compared to football or other physically demanding sports. Few players decided to retire even before reaching their peak. Lots of times players are forced to retire due to career-ending injuries or some personal reasons. It’s always sad to see players who we grew up watching retire. Let’s have a look at some of the players who retired prematurely.
1) Dane van Niekerk
All-rounder, Dane made her debut at the age of just 16 years. In 2013, Dane become the first South African woman cricketer to take an international hat-trick. Dane has played a total of 194 matches for the Proteas women, accumulating a total of 4074 runs and also claiming 204 wickets. She has hit 1 century and claimed 2 five-wicket hauls for them. Dane was announced as the captain of Proteas after Mignon Du Preez decided to step down from the role in 2016.
On 16th March 2023, Dane announced her shocking retirement at the age of 29 years. She announced this decision after being left out of South Africa’s squad for the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2023. She was dropped out of the squad as she failed to reach the fitness standards.
2) Ayesha Naseem
Swashbuckling Pakistan teenager Ayesha Naseem announced her shocking retirement from the game on 21st July 2023. This news shocked a lot of fans across the globe. She announced her retirement at the age of just 18 years. Ayesha retired from cricket citing religious reasons, as she wanted to practice her religion and adhere to it.
Ayesha was considered a ‘serious talent’ by Pakistan legend Wasim Akram. Ayesha had the ability to dispatch the ball far enough into the stands. Ayesha played a total of 34 matches for Pakistan scoring 402 runs from it.
3) Sarah Taylor
One of England’s best wicket keeper, announced her shocking retirement in September 2019 at the age of 30 years. 2 months earlier she had opted out of the Ashes series due to mental health and anxiety issues.
Taylor made her debut for England in 2006 against India. From then, Taylor played a total of 226 games, scoring a total of 6533 runs for them. She was very quick behind the stumps which caused fear amongst the batters.
4) Lizelle Lee
One of the most hard-hitting batter in women’s cricket, Lee started her career as an opener, before eventually shifting to the middle order. Lee played a total of 184 matches for the Proteas, scoring 5253 international runs in her career. Lee also managed to hit 4 centuries for the Proteas across formats.
Lee announced her shocking retirement in 2022 at the age of 30 owing to some differences with the South African cricket board. It was truly one of the shocking decisions.
5) VR Vanitha
VR Vanitha made her debut for the Indian National Team in 2014. She played a total of 6 ODI’s and 16 T20I’s for India, scoring a total of 301 runs across formats. She was then dropped from the team.
Vanitha announced her retirement in February 2022, at the age of 31. Vanitha then, later on, went into the field of coaching. Now Vanitha is all set to coach a men’s professional team, breaking the centuries-long stereotype.
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