5 Cricket Legends Who Called It a Day in 2015
Every year rather every day witnesses some or the other cricketer retire from the game, but this year saw so many cricket legends retire from the game of cricket, especially after the World Cup. Let’s take a look at some of them:
Michael Clarke (Australia)
Michael Clarke, nicknamed as `Pup’ is regarded as one of the greatest Australian captain of his era. He lead his side to many memorable wins in international tournaments and series. Clarke took his retirement after winning the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 played in Australia and New Zealand. Clarke was suffering from back injury since a long time and called off after this great win at home. Under his captaincy, Australia crushed England 5-0 in Ashes. Also, they grabbed the no.1 test spot after defeating Proteas at home in a 3 match test series. Clarke was a right hand batsman, slow left arm orthodox bowler and a brilliant fielder in slips.
Virender Sehwag (India)
The batsman who smashed the first ball of the innings to boundary for most times without having any second thought in his mind, the player who completed triple test hundred twice and made a landmark of double century in ODI after Sachin Tendulkar, finally decided to hang up his boots when he didn’t got a chance in the recent series against South Africa. Though BCCI didn’t arranged for the Farewell match, but he was felicitated in the last test played at Delhi. He was a perfect opener for India along with Sachin Tendulkar and gave India a blistering start hammering every bowler without any hesitation. He scored over 16000 international runs with batting average close to 50 in Tests.
Daniel Vettori (New Zealand)
A man in the small minority of players wearing spectacles while playing cricket, Vettori was a legend for New Zealand Cricket team becoming only eighth player in the world to score 3000 runs and take 300 wickets. He started playing at a very young age of 18, becoming New Zealand’s most capped player in both-Tests and ODI’s. Vettori has taken 664 international wickets in his career. Vettori stunned everybody in the recent World Cup by taking a one-handed catch at boundary. He bowled beautifully in the tournament ensuring his team finishes as runners up in the cup and took retirement from international cricket immediately after the tournament.
Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)
The most stylish left handed batsman in the world left the ODI’s along with his team-mate and friend Mahela Jayawardene after playing a memorable World Cup in 2015, where he was in the form of his life scoring back to back centuries and joining the 500 runs club. He scored over 12000 Test runs and more than 14000 runs in ODI’s. He has 402 catches and 99 stumpings in his 404 ODI’s. He retired from the Tests after the 2nd match against India on 24th August 2015. He is second to Sachin Tendulkar for most international runs with 28,016. He holds the record for highest partnership for any wicket – 624 for the third wicket with Mahela Jayawardene (374) and his 287 against South Africa in 2006.
Brendan Taylor (Zimbabwe)
Brendan Taylor was a silent Zimbabwean player but had a great impact on the game. Taylor is considered as one of the greatest batsman in Zimbabwean Cricket history. He scored over 5000 runs in 167 ODI’s. He captained his team till the World Cup in 2015 and ended up with 433 runs which is a record by Zimbabwe in any World Cup. He also scored a ton in his last ODI match against India in the Cup.