With ICC Twenty20 (T20) World Cup 2016 beginning from March 8, there are already rumors and speculations making the round of cricketers who might retire from either T20 format or from international cricket altogether
1) Shahid Afridi (Pakistan): The talk of the town has been BOOM BOOM’s retirement plans, which have escalated to levels that have left audiences and cricketers alike confused, as he is yet to make up his mind to retire from International cricket. After winning the ICC World T20 title in 2009, former Pakistan skipper Younis Khan announced his retirement and the captaincy was handed over to Shahid Afridi by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), although it was just for a match, he later went on to be a permanent replacement.
2) Chris Gayle (West Indies): The Caribbean hitter Chris Gayle is also under the list of probable cricketer who might bid adieu to international cricket after ICC World T20 2016. This cricketer has always been in the limelight for wrong reasons most of time, be it for sexists comments over female reporters or supposedly trying to get close during ICC World Cup 2015 to a female staff.
3) MS Dhoni (India): India needs a dose of MS Dhoni every now and then, but when you stumble upon the news of the cricketer could be planning to quit all other forms of cricket, it can be quite nerve racking. After retiring from Test cricket in 2015, it is difficult to imagine the Indian skipper to retire from shorter-formats. He was called in for T20I cricket in 2006 against South Africa in December. Dhoni holds numerous captaincy records such as most wins by an Indian captain in Tests and ODIs, and most back-to-back wins by an Indian captain in ODIs. He took over the ODI captaincy from Rahul Dravid in 2007 and led the team to its first-ever bilateral ODI series wins in Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
4) Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka): The out of sight cricketer and Sri Lanka’s former T20 skipper Lasith Malinga made announcement about stepping down as captain of Sri Lanka just a day before the ICC World T20 2016 on Monday. Soon speculation started doing rounds of him retiring after the event as his health was not as it used to be. Though Sri Lanka were the World T20 in 2014 winning team under Malinga’s captaincy, it is difficult to let go off a senior player who has sound knowledge of cricket. He is the only bowler in the world to have two World Cup hat-tricks, three hat-tricks in ODIs and four wickets in four consecutive balls in any form of international cricket.
5) Shane Watson (Australia): Another cricketer who has remained out of the Australia squad for a while and news did come around of Shane Watson soon going away from T20I cricket and playing only for domestic matches and leagues. He has remained out from many T20I matches and the last he was seen paying for was against India scoring highest runs with a century. He was nowhere to be found while playing against New Zealand and the current series against South Africa.
6) Mashrafe Mortaza (Bangladesh): With all the cricketers planning to quit from international cricket, the recent one to raise voice and speak on retirement is Mashrafe Mortaza. Indeed Bangladesh is at their best in International cricket with their performance, improving as each tournament progresses. Nobody would have expected to find Bangladesh making it to the final of Asia Cup T20 2016 yet again, but this time against India. Just a day before the final, Mortaza hinted towards retirement mentioning he might not play more international tournament after 2016. He is a useful lower-order batsman and his known for his bowling skills. His career has been hampered by injuries with a total of ten operations on his knees and ankles.
He was playing for Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL in 2009. He is also known to be a key player in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) when he started playing for Dhaka Gladiators and went on to play for Comilla Victorians since 2015 and led them to their 3rd title in BPL 2015. Since Bangladesh early loss in ICC World T20 2007, Mortaza, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib-al-Hasan were successors for captaincy.
7) AB de Villiers (South Africa): After the disastrous loss against England in Test series, South Africa captain Hashim Amla stepped down as captain for Test cricket opening doors for opportunity for AB de Villiers in January 2016. De Villiers who was planning to quit from one of the format of cricket due to family commitments as mentioned by him in December, was soon seen taking over the responsibility from Amla as captain for Test and ODI. His team mate Faf du Plessis remains to be the captain for T20 cricket. He succeeded the role of captaincy after Greame Smith. There was even news of Smith returning to South Africa after their loss in Test series. De Villiers is the No.1 ODI batsmen and continues to remain at the top with his consistent performance.
He holds the record for the fastest 50 by South African in T20Is. He is a three times ICC ODI Player of the Year having won the award in 2010, 2014 & 2015. He recently scored the fastest fifty in T20I match against England stumping them to T20I series loss. De Villiers is an important player for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL. Under the captaincy of de Villiers, South Africa qualified for the semi-finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, but lost to New Zealand in the match.
8) Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka): The news broke about Rangana Herath planning to quit international cricket, last year on which he will take call on after ICC World T20 2016. He is working on his recurring knee problem. To reduce the pain, Herath went to Australia shortly before the ICC World T20 2014 and got a C-reactive protein injection for each knee but it has been an over a year since and the pain has only recurred. Following the retirements of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, Herath is one of the few experienced minds around for skipper Angelo Mathews to turn for advice, making his presence all the more valuable. His best bowling record remains 5 for 3 against New Zealand and was also awarded as CEAT international bowler of the year in 2015.
Special Mention- Ryan Campbell (Australia): He might not be a known figure for many, but he has definitely been the right element Australia had in their squad. He started his career in Western Australia as in 1995 playing alongside former Australia skipper Adam Gilchrist soon replacing him as wicket-keeper. Soon he was called on into the national squad in 2002 against New Zealand, after which he was seen playing against Sri Lanka later in the year, substituting Gilchrist in both the games. He last played for Western Australia in 2005 with Luke Ronchi replacing him. Soon he started working for a media company as a sports presenter on radio and cricket commentator on television. In 2012, he moved to Hong Kong to play and coach the Kowloon Cricket Club. In 2016, aged 43, he was included in the Hong Kong national team’s squad for the 2016 Twenty20 World Cup in India.
Courtesy :cricketcountry