5 popular international cricketers who reversed their retirement post 2015 ft. Ben Stokes
Ben Stokes reversing his retirement decision has left quite a few fans happy as well as surprised. The all-rounder had retired from ODI cricket in June last year, claiming that he needed to manage his workload after having become England's Test captain.
However, current skipper Jos Buttler and coach Matthew Mott seem to have convinced Stokes about the tempting opportunity to defend their World Cup crown in India during October-November this year.
Ben Stokes has now been named in the ODI squad against New Zealand as well as in the provisional World Cup squad. England will be delighted that the Player of the Match in the previous World Cup final has agreed to make a sensational comeback.
Stokes isn't the only one who has done this. In fact, in the period after 2015, four more cricketers have made such a U-turn after announcing their retirement in the first place. Let's take a look at these cricketers:
#4 Brendan Taylor
Former Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor is arguably one of the best cricketers that the country has produced. He was just 29 years of age when he retired from international cricket after Zimbabwe's final group-stage game of the 2015 World Cup against India.
Taylor had signed a Kolpak deal, which was a three-year stint with Nottinghamshire in county cricket and as per the contract back then, he was ineligible to represent the national team.
However, in 2017, Taylor decided to end his stint citing 'family reasons' and made a comeback to the Zimbabwe setup. He retired from international cricket in September 2021, after the three-match ODI series against Ireland.
#3 Dwayne Bravo
Arguably one of the greatest T20 bowlers of all time, Dwayne Bravo had announced his retirement from international cricket in 2018 and continued to play in T20 leagues all over the world.
However, in December 2019, Bravo expressed his desire to represent West Indies after there was a change in administration. He also claimed that his comeback would be only limited to T20Is as West Indies were set to play the T20 World Cup in the UAE.
Bravo did play for the two-time T20 World Cup champions in the tournament and then retired from international cricket after the end of the campaign.
#2 Moeen Ali
Moeen Ali's availability to England's Test side was of paramount importance as he not only was an explosive batter but also had the ability to run through the opposition with the ball on his day. He had announced his retirement from Tests at the end of the summer in 2021.
The 'Bazball' ideology under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum gave England incredible success and the duo often seemed to hint that they were trying to convince Moeen to come out of Test retirement.
A stress fracture saw left-arm spinner Jack Leach miss out on the Ashes this year and captain Stokes convinced Moeen to be available for the five Tests against Australia. The off-spinner played a crucial role in ensuring England didn't lose the series, but has now confirmed that he won't be playing Test cricket anymore.
#1 Tamim Iqbal
Arguably the most controversial of all retirement reversals has been the one by Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal. The southpaw openly spoke about his back problem and fitness before the ODI series against Afghanistan, something which the Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan wasn't pleased about.
Nazmul openly criticized the-then ODI captain for his remarks on fitness and after just one ODI game, Tamim announced his shock retirement from international cricket.
It needed an intervention from Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to convince Tamim Iqbal to reverse his decision. While Tamim will be available in the ODI setup, he has stepped down from the captaincy and Shakib Al Hasan will lead the side in the Asia Cup as well as the World Cup.