3 batting legends who delayed their ODI retirement for too long
Very few great sportsmen get the timing of their retirement right. Time raises its ugly hood so stealthily that the player does not realize it; many illustrious names in the annals of sporting history have fallen prey to that, and carried on well beyond their prime.
These legends were ultimately either dropped from the side or told to move away from the game.
Former Indian captain MS Dhoni has been in the news for quite some time now, regarding his future plans in limited overs cricket. Dhoni has been keeping the world guessing about his retirement, and many believe he has delayed his departure too long.
In this article, we look at three legendary cricketers from the past who also delayed their ODI retirements for too long.
#3 Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag will go down as one of the most destructive openers ever produced by India. The swashbuckling batsman played 251 ODIs and scored 8586 runs at an average of 35.06 and an astounding strike rate of 104.34. Sehwag is also one of the three Indian batsmen to have scored a double hundred in ODI cricket.
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However, in the final part of his ODI career, Sehwag struggled to get going. In his last 11 ODI innings he could not score a single century, while crossing the fifty run mark just once. In fact, Sehwag's scores in his last five ODI innings read 15, 3, 34, 4 and 31.
Sehwag played his last ODI on 3 January 2013, and was subsequently dropped from the ODI squad. He didn't play a single ODI match after that, eventually retiring from the game in the year 2015.