With every passing year, many cricketers announce their retirement from either of the international format or from overall cricket. Retiring from the game is something which is a huge moment in a cricketers life. But we have seen instances where players hung up their boots and decided to make a comeback after that. So in this article lets discuss five such instances where players decided to quit the sport, only to return to it later.
The first name in the list is of the ex Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi. This Pakistani cricketer is more famous for his comebacks after retirement than as a cricketer. Afridi, who is considered to be among the best all-rounders of 21st century, started his retirement and comeback saga in 2006 by announcing his temporary retirement from Tests but came back in 2010 and that too as captain. Later in 2011, he announced that he will be retiring from ODI Cricket after the World Cup but somehow came back in the team and went on to play until the 2015 Cricket World Cup under the leadership of Misbah ul haq.
The second name in the list is of Ambati Rayudu. Just before the 2019 CWC, when the Indian squad was announced and even after being India’s number four in all the games leading up to the tournament, the selectors decided to show him the cold shoulder while selecting the 15-man squad. He was not considered even when two players were injured and Vijay Shankar was chosen over him on the pretext of Shankar being a 3D player. This broke Rayudu to the core and in those emotions he went on to announce his retirement but he recently said in an interview that he wouldn’t deny if the Indian team calls him and also went on to play the IPL that year with Chennai Super Kings.
The third name in the list is of Carl Hooper. This former Caribbean cricketer announced his shocking retirement three weeks before the 1999 World Cup but made a surprising comeback in 2001. The all-rounder was the captain of the Windies side when South Africa became the first African country to host the World Cup in 2003. After a terrible campaign, he once again hung up his boots and this time, there was no coming back. He is still regarded as one of the best All Rounders of all time who wasn’t lucky in the sport.
The fourth name in the list is of Kevin Pietersen. Pietersen said in 2011 that he will be retiring from white-ball cricket to improve his game in the longest format. But it took only a few months for him to take a U-Turn on his decision and was selected in the squad almost immediately in ODIs and T20Is. He then went on to score 4,440 runs in ODIs for the country before his career came to an abrupt end. Pietersen then became a full-time commentator and currently voices his opinions on matches at the international level.
The fifth name in the list is of Imran Khan. The current Prime Minister of Pakistan retired from International cricket after the 1987 World Cup, which was co-hosted by India and Pakistan. Despite all the amazing numbers he achieved in Test cricket, not winning the World Cup remained a huge regret for him. As soon as he came back, he picked up 23 wickets against West Indies in just 3 Tests in the 1988 series. After the final against England in 1992 where he helped Pakistan clinch their first even World Cup title, Imran Khan never played International cricket again.
