Every sportsperson eventually has to retire once they realize they cannot perform at the same level as before. Although most of them don’t come back, there are a few players who might return if they feel like they’re good enough to play at the highest level.
The same rules apply to cricket where the players briefly announce their retirement for various reasons. They then come back after either solving a problem that was recurring or improving their technique to fit into the modern scheme of things.
Here we take a look at 5 such cricketers who came out of retirement:
1) Shahid Afridi
The Pakistani cricketer has actually come out of retirement multiple times. He first started this ‘retirement-comeback’ episode in 2006, by announcing his retirement from Tests but came back in 2010 as the captain. Afridi then continued the episode but this time in the ODI format.
He announced his retirement from ODI’s after the 2011 World Cup following spats with the then coach Waqar Younis. By the end of the year, however, Afridi was back in the squad and played under Misbah-ul-Haq till the 2015 World Cup. In 2018, Afridi officially announced his retirement from international cricket once and for all.
2) Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Pietersen announced his retirement from the limited-overs format in 2011 in order to focus only in Tests. After a few months, however, he made his comeback to the national team. His career has been filled with a lot of controversies, especially with team management.
In 2014, Pietersen had a fallout with coach Andy Flower and it resulted in the removal of Flower as head coach. There was a lot of media speculation on the nature of Pietersen’s relationship with the team management. He finally made a statement that made things crystal clear.
“Although I am obviously very sad the incredible journey has come to an end, I’m also hugely proud of what we, as a team, have achieved over the past nine years,” he announced.
3) Dwayne Bravo
In October 2018, the West Indian all-rounder announced his retirement from international cricket in all formats. However he explicitly mentioned that he will continue to play franchise T20 cricket. In December 2019, Bravo came out of international retirement to prepare for the 2020 T20 World Cup.
“I would like to announce my return to international T20s for West Indies. Once selected I’ll be fully committed to represent the region again in T20 cricket, which I think is exciting for West Indies cricket and fans, with the young talents around.”
Due to the pandemic, the T20 World Cup was postponed and it is set to take place in October 2021. The venue for the mega-event is yet to be finalized after the BCCI announced that it will not be able to hold the event due to covid-19 restrictions.
4) Imran Khan
Imran Khan will arguably go down as one of the greatest Pakistani captains ever. He’s also one of the greatest all-rounders, registering 3,807 runs along with 362 wickets in Test cricket. Imran retired from international cricket at the end of the 1987 World Cup.
In 1988, he was asked to return to captaincy by the President of Pakistan, General Zia-Ul-Haq, and on 18 January, he announced his decision to rejoin the team. His career as a cricketer culminated when he led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup, following which he retired from all forms of cricket.
5) Javed Miandad
Probably the greatest batsman Pakistan has ever produced, Javed Miandad is widely known for his historic last ball six against India in 1986 at Sharjah. Just like Imran Khan, Miandad also retired from international cricket but it was for a brief period of 10 days.
The then prime minister Benazir Bhutto requested him to play for Pakistan till the 1996 World Cup. He became the first player in the history of cricket to be part of six ICC World Cups (1975-1996). He was, however, unable to make an impact in the 1996 World Cup and eventually retired in 1996 at the age of 39.