The Year 2012 saw lot of surprising and shocking retirements of international cricketers in various formats. Fans were shocked to know that they can’t see their favorite players in action anymore.

It all started with India’s batting great Rahul Dravid who announced his retirement from international cricket on 9th March 2012 following a disastrous tour of Australia, but he denied that his poor form had nothing to do with his retirement decision. Dravid’s nickname ‘The Wall‘ ended his test career with 13,288 runs in 164 matches with 36 centuries. Dravid had already announced his retirement from ODI cricket last year as well.

South Africa’s great wicket-keeper batsman Mark Boucher announced his retirement from International cricket on 10th July 2012 due to a severe eye injury in a tour game against Somerset. His actual plan was to retire after playing his 150th test in the final match against England, but things went the other way for Boucher. Really a sad end to one of the greatest wicket-keeper in world cricket, who was just about to touch 1000 international dismissals, unfortunately will end up in 999.

Following Boucher, Australia’s spear head Brett Lee too announced his retirement on 13th July 2012 after sustaining a calf strain. He retired from test cricket in 2010 as well. Brett Lee who was targeting to retire post the T20 World Cup in September-October, found that it’s the right time to make way for Australia’s young fast bowlers. Brett Lee left international cricket as the joint highest ODI wicket-taker for Australia (380 wickets) along with Glenn McGrath. Brett Lee has declared his willingness to play the KFC T20 Big Bash League and the IPL.

While Indian team was searching for Dravid’s replacement, V.V.S. Laxman announced his retirement from international cricket. His decision came just before India’s home series against New Zealand. He ended his 16 year career scoring 8781 runs in 134 tests with 17 centuries. Laxman had a disappointing last 8 tests against England and Australia averaging just 20 and 23 which also prompted some to drop him from the side. May be this was one of the reason for his retirement, but Laxman admitted that his sudden retirement had been a tough decision to take.

England’s one of the finest test captain Andrew Strauss announced his retirement from professional cricket on August 29, 2012. The decision to retire was due to poor form with the bat following a 2-0 test series loss against South Africa which costs England’s World No. 1 ranking in tests. It was during his captaincy, England became World No. 1 in tests after a 4-0 whitewash against India. Strauss ended his 10-year career playing 100 tests and has scored 7037 runs.

Australia’s one of the greatest player and aggressive captain Ricky Ponting announced his complete retirement from all forms of cricket on November 29, 2012. He announced his retirement just before the start of the final test against South Africa in Perth, incidentally Perth happened to be his debut as well as last played venue. He Ended his 17 year test career with an amazing record of 13,366 runs in tests, the second highest run scorer behind Sachin Tendulkar in 168 tests with 41 centuries. Inconsistent performances claimed to be the reason for his retirement.

Kevin Pietersen too earlier in the year announced his retirement from the limited overs cricket alone, but later he reversed his decision.

Sachin Tendulkar announces retirement from ODI Cricket

Among all these shocking retirements, the real shocker came on December 23, 2012 when Sachin Tendulkar, the Little Master shocked the world by announcing his retirement from ODI cricket. This was a real shocker for fans and cricket lovers all over the world. One of the reasons for his decision was to make way for youngsters ahead of the 2015 World Cup. His 23 year long career came to end with 463 ODIs and 18,426 runs. He was just one short of completing a staggering half-century of hundreds in the 50-over format. He is world’s highest run getter both in tests and ODIs, and the only player to score 100 International centuries. Sachin will continue playing test cricket.

So 2012 is really a sad year for cricket lovers especially for India as three legendary players announced their retirements. A Royal Salute to all the players! We will truly Miss You!

Tags: Andrew Strauss, Brett Lee, Cricket, Cricketers, Glenn McGrath, Kevin Pietersen, Mark Boucher, Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman