Top 5 Cricketers Who Stunned Everyone with Their Surprise Retirement

Top 5 Cricketers Who Stunned Everyone with Their Surprise Retirement

The exciting action in international cricket continues, but sometimes we receive unexpected news that surprises most cricket fans. Recently, we have witnessed multiple instances where several players announced their retirements suddenly, particularly at unexpected points in their careers. Today, we will discuss five cricketers who surprised everyone with their unexpected retirement.

Virat Kohli (India)

The first and biggest name on the list is one of the greatest cricketers of all time, Virat Kohli, who first announced his retirement from T20I cricket after India won the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Then, in the middle of the IPL, he sent shockwaves through the entire international cricket community by announcing his retirement from the Test format. This was an extremely unexpected announcement, especially since he had talked several times about India's upcoming assignments in England. However, the reason behind his sudden retirement remains unknown. In the 123 Test matches Kohli played, he scored over 9230 runs with an average of 46.85 and made 30 centuries.

Rohit Sharma (India)

Another star Indian cricketer, Rohit Sharma, who led India to back-to-back ICC trophies and 3 ICC finals in three years, recently announced retirement. Rohit has been a phenomenal captain, leading Team India to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 finals and then leading the team to victory in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 and ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma also announced his retirement from the T20I format minutes after winning the T20 World Cup. During the IPL, he announced his retirement from the Test format too. These unexpected retirements from Virat and Rohit create some doubt, but we have no information about what led to these announcements. In the 67 Tests Rohit Sharma played, he scored 4301 runs, along with 12 centuries and 18 fifties.

Nicholas Pooran (West Indies)

Another relatively young cricketer who announced retirement is Nicholas Pooran. The West Indies' aggressive batter and wicketkeeper suddenly announced his retirement from international cricket in all formats just after the IPL, shocking everyone. He has not yet commented on the reason for his retirement from international cricket, but based on what we can see, it is likely because he wants to play more franchise cricket. In the recent IPL 2025, he was phenomenal for Lucknow Super Giants, especially in the first half, where he maintained the lead in the Orange Cap race for a long time. In the 61 T20 matches Pooran played for the West Indies, he scored 1980 runs, while in the 106 ODIs he played, he scored 2,275 runs.

Glenn Maxwell (Australia)

The next player on the list is Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who is well known for his hard-hitting abilities and crisp spin bowling. Leaving franchise cricket aside, if we talk about his performance in international cricket, he has been nothing less than phenomenal for Australia, where he has rescued the team multiple times. The double hundred he scored against Afghanistan in the Cricket World Cup 2023 will be regarded as one of the greatest knocks of all time in ODI history, where he played magnificently despite being injured and with the team in a very critical situation after losing multiple wickets. Maxwell recently announced his retirement from ODI cricket at the age of 36. During his ODI career, he scored 3990 runs, including four centuries and 23 half-centuries.

Heinrich Klaasen (South Africa)

The last player on the list is Heinrich Klaasen from South Africa, another explosive batter and wicketkeeper who has made his name with this performance. While playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2025, he performed really well. If he had performed in the first half of the season, the teams' positions on the points table could have been different. Nevertheless, he is still one of the top wicketkeeper-batters in T20 cricket and was also the most expensive player that Sunrisers Hyderabad retained for this season of the IPL. Recently, Klaasen surprised everyone by announcing his retirement from international cricket, ending his not-so-long career with South Africa. It is expected that he will continue to play in various franchise cricket leagues around the world. Klaasen has scored over 3000 runs in the 118 limited-overs matches he has played.

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