With every ICC World Cup, one witnesses high profile retirements with big names leaving the game. World Cup glory is one of the most prestigious honours for a cricketer so with those who are nearing retirement age choose to play one last mega event before hanging up their boots.

Post the World Cup in 1992, we witnessed stalwarts and the best allrounders of their time, Imran Khan, Ian Botham, and Kapil Dev end their careers; while 1996 was the swansong for one of the best batsmen of his time, Javed Miandad.

The World Cup in 1999 saw Sri Lanka's long standing captain and vice captain Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda De Silva appear in their last World Cup in the hope to defend the title they had won in 1996.

In 2003 we witnessed the mass exodus of Pakistani greats Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, and Saeed Anwar; 2007 was the swansong for Aussie greats Adam Gilchrist and Glenn McGrath; and 2011 was the Sachin Tendulkar's 6th and final attempt at World Cup glory, the only prize that had eluded him during his 24 year cricket career.

The upcoming ICC World Cup 2015 is no different and will also see some high profile cricketers leave the game for good. While a few have already announced their retirements following the World Cup, there are various others who I believe are on their final attempts at World Cup glory. What a delight it would be to watch these stalwarts in action for one final time!

Australia: Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, Brad Haddin

All four of them were part of the 2007 squad that won the ICC World Cup; and 8 years later they are part of what will probably be their last attempt at World Cup glory. Clarke, Watson, and Johnson will be 37, while Haddin will be 41, by the time the next edition comes around in 2019.

With Clarke already battling injuries, and Smith emerging as a capable replacement as Australia's captain, it looks highly doubtful that Clarke will be part of another World Cup campaign. Watson has also been injury prone and with the emergence of young allrounders in Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, and James Faulkner, Watson's days as an international cricketer are numbered. Johnson has been Australia's spearhead for the past few years and will remain so for another couple of years surely; but another World Cup seems too far off for him to remain at the top of his game.

As for Haddin, this might be his last year an international cricketer.

None of them have said it but it is very likely that all these four Aussies will be playing their last ICC World Cup.

India: MS Dhoni

He is the only surviving captain from the 2011 World Cup and will be defending the title that he and his team won for Sachin Tendulkar in 2011.

He is 33 and has recently retired from Test Cricket. Though there has been no indication on how much longer he will play ODIs, I highly doubt that he will be around playing ODIs for India 4 years down the road.

I believe this will be Dhoni's last appearance in an ICC World Cup and in 2019 he will most likely only be a franchise T20 player.

New Zealand: The McCullum Brothers, Daniel Vettori, Kyle Mills

Vettori has already announced that this World Cup will be his swansong. He left test cricket some time ago and had been saving himself for a last attempt at World Cup glory.

New Zealand captain, Brendon McCullum is 33 and at the top of his game in both tests and ODIs. He will surely continue to lead New Zealand for another couple of years, but it is quite unlikely that he will be leading the Kiwis at another World Cup campaign four years from now.

His brother, Nathan, is 34, and is also likely to retire before the next World Cup in 2019. While veteran pacer Kyle Mills, who is 35, is probably on his swansong as well.

Pakistan: Misbah Ul Haq, Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Mohammad Hafeez

Pakistan captain Misbah, and Vice Captain Afridi have both announced their retirements from ODIs following the World Cup. Misbah will continue to lead Pakistan in tests; while Afridi will be doing the same in T20Is; but neither will appear in any more ODIs after this World Cup campaign.

While Younis Khan has questioned why people are thinking that this his last World Cup, I highly doubt that at 41 he will be around in Pakistan colours in England in 2019. He has already gone past his welcome within the ODI squad and I find it very hard to see him a part of Pakistan's ODI plans after this World Cup.

Mohammad Hafeez, at 34, is also likely to be playing his last World Cup. He will be 38 by the time the next edition comes around and unless he can defy age the way Misbah and Younis have, I don't see him being a part of Pakistan's plans four years from now.

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Tilekaratne Dilshan, Rangana Herath

Jayawardene and Sangakkara have announced their retirements from ODIs and this World Cup will be their swansong and their final attempt at World Cup glory. Both of them are quite determined to leave the game with Sri Lanka at the top, especially after their respective failed attempts as captains in 2007 and 2011; both times Sri Lanka finished as runners up.

Dilshan and Herath will both be well past 40 in 2019 and even though they haven't announced their ODI retirements, they probably will before 2019.

It is every cricketer's dream to win the World Cup but not everyone gets to live that dream. Jacques Kallis had a distinguished career but never saw his team win a World Cup. He was desperate to be a part of South Africa's World Cup plans this year and over the past two years took all measures that he could to be fit and ready, but it was just not meant to be as he announced his retirement 8 months before the mega event in the larger interest of the team.

Besides the Australians and the Indian mentioned above, no one on this list has ever won the World Cup and with this being their final attempt, they will surely be extra motivated to do so. Misbah, Afridi, Sangakkara, Jayawardene, and Vettori; all of whom have announced their retirements have left it no secret that they want to end their career by winning the World Cup.

Not all of them will get to live that dream.

But what a story it would be for those who do!

He is the number 1 ranked ODI batsman in the world and the number 2 ranked test batsman in the world. Besides compatriot Hashim Amla, he is the only batsman in the world to average above 50 in both ODIs and Tests. And Adam Gilchrist recently said he is the most valuable cricketer in the world.

AB De Villiers is a complete freakshow!

What AB De Villiers did yesterday was purely phenomenal.

To come out to bat in the 39th over of an ODI and out score someone who batted for the entire 50 overs is just out of this world.

No one in this world has come out to bat after the 30th over of an ODI innings and score a century. AB De Villiers has now done that twice!

There is absolutely no comparison to AB's level; yet I am still going to sin a little bit and compare the only three ODI centuries that have been scored in less than 40 deliveries.


There is no doubt that AB's record century yesterday was special. It wasn't special because he scored the fastest ton in ODI history; it was special because of the kind of shots he played and the fact that he racked up 149 off only 44 deliveries.

AB walked out to bat in the 39th over and got out in the 50th; Hashim Amla batted for the entire 50 overs and scored just 4 more runs than AB did... one can't even dream of playing such innings; think about actually doing it.

Corey Anderson's innings was special in its own way. The match had been reduced to 21 overs a side and Jesse Ryder, who had opened the innings for New Zealand, was already smashing the West Indians around. Anderson walked in and took the attack to another level. His innings was special because he broke a record that had stood the test of time for 18 long years!

Imagine what Shahid Afridi must be thinking. He played international cricket for 19 years, held a world record for 18 of those years, and then saw it broken twice in his final year of ODI cricket.

Afridi's innings, despite being the slowest of the three centuries, was special because it was the first ever ODI hundred scored in less than 40 deliveries. But what was even more extraordinary about Afridi's century was the fact that it was his first ever innings in an international cricket match.

He was in the team as a mere leg spinner and overnight shot to fame because of one of the most brutal attacks to be ever witnessed in ODIs.

Arguably, Afridi also faced a tougher bowling attack than the one faced by Anderson and AB. Think Chaminda Vaas, Muralitharan, and Dharmasena. And he also had to deal with 5 fielders on the boundary, as compared to only 4 fielders in today's times that Anderson and AB had to deal with.

It could also be argued that Afridi came in to bat in the 11th over the innings and was under significantly more pressure than Anderson and AB were when they came out to bat.

Anderson was in the middle of an ODI that had been reduced to a 21 over hitathon. While AB walked out in the 39th over with South Africa cruising at 247-1. They both had the license to destroy the bowling without worrying about losing their wicket.

Both Anderson and AB had to sustain the momentum that had been built by the batsmen before them; Afridi, on the other hand, had to start building the momentum that Pakistan desperately required in order to qualify for the final of the quadrangular tournament.

Pakistan not only had to win the game against Sri Lanka, they had to do it with a significant margin in order to qualify for the final. It was a pressure game.

For Afridi to do it in these circumstances in his first ever international innings was truly special.

Even though all three fastest centuries are special in their own way, AB De Villiers innings is the best of all in my opinion for its sheer brutality and entertainment.

I have never seen anyone demolish a bowling attack the way AB did yesterday. It was quite unbelievable.

I really do think that AB played the best ever ODI innings ever to be played in the history of ODIs.

Afridi's record stood for 18 years; AB's might never be broken.

Admittedly it's a combination of statistics and opinion that leads me to this conclusion – Inzamam-ul-Haq is the greatest batsman Pakistan has seen. I won't pretend there's no debate on this one but I'll stay the course and show why this is a more than a sound position, even if it's not the only option!



























Via junaidrao on Flickr

Firstly, the numbers. Inzamam is in an excruciatingly close second in total Test match runs scored to legendary Javed Miandad, with 8830 to the latter’s 8832. Realistically, with three runs in it, that was a single innings' work, or even a single ball's work. You'd have to think, if he wanted, it was a record he could have yanked some strings to get past. In his final innings he needed just six runs to match it, and ended up with three. The moment itself will go down in history, but he stuck to his guns and went out when he said he would. He was a player who could have carried on and made more runs for his country, but he'd made his decision and that was that.

That final choice kept the consistent air of selflessness that 'Inzy' always had about him; he was a team player, and it wasn't his personal achievements that meant so much to him. A more conceited player would have gone out again to reach the top, but he was happy in his career and the runs he had posted to date. It was a noble thing, and that's why he was consistently a fan favourite. His laidback attitude hardly makes you think he'd have batted an eyelid at not reaching the total in front of him, although there would undoubtedly have been real pressure.

Of the top ten Pakistan runscorers, he had the third best average with an exceptional 50.16. Only Younis Khan (53.37), Miandad (52.57) and Mohammad Yousuf (52.29) bested him on that score. 
Centuries? He's second with 25, only behind Younis’ 28. He has the highest amount of fifties with 46, and comes in at second on the highest score, hitting a mammoth 329, not too far behind Hanif Mohammad's 337.

In One Day Internationals of course there is only one king, and that is Inzamam. His 11,701 runs in the shorter format have him head and shoulders above Yousuf in second with 9,554. A 39.53 average over 348 innings is a great total for any batsman, although there are a couple that managed to narrowly usurp him on that score. Saeed Anwar and Yousuf's centuries were more plentiful, too, but the reliable big man always led from the front. Again, his consistent fifties (83) are the most captivating, boasting 21 more than his nearest rival in Yousuf.

All of these achievements show why he was such a colossal figure for Pakistan during his time at the crease, and give plenty of ammunition to the argument of why he'll always be heralded as one of the greats. He's not at the top of every table, but he's never too far away either. 

The numbers don't unequivocally place him as the top choice, though, so why, I hear you ask, is he? 

Well, there's a few reasons I can put together to illustrate my point here. 

World Cup 1992
As a young and fresh-faced 22-year-old, Inzamam was a wildcard choice for the team. En-route to picking up the winner's trophy that year, he put in some spellbinding performances that endeared him to cricket fans the world over. That 60 from 37 against New Zealand was a vital innings, and a rapid 42 from 35 in the final contributed to their 249 total. It was very much needed from Inzamam and his team-mate Saleem Malik, who put in great run rates to up the ante after a shaky start. He says this was his proudest moment, and it's easy to see why. Even though not many knew who he was when he first entered the tournament, he left it as a part of cricketing history. With Pakistan at a particularly low ebb at the moment, as betfair have them just seventh favourites at 10/1 for the upcoming World Cup, memories of more successful days will always linger with the fans.

A big man, with big heart
Inzamam was a stoic figure and held together many Pakistan batting orders when things were crumbling around him. Unlikely to be fazed by anything, he had an innate ability to keep his cool, steady the ship and collect the runs when the going wasn't great. You'd never rush the man - in fact he couldn't be rushed as a famously bad runner between the wickets - but often that was his best quality. Standing solid as a rock, anchoring the Pakistan batting line-up and showing you there was always somebody you could rely on. 

His size was part character, part attribute, and part frustration for fans, whether bettors or supporters. He was never an out-and-out athlete and at times he seemed like he needed an extra push to motivate him. But as with most great talents there's always something imperfect and human about what they bring to the table. There's no doubt if Inzamam had more enthusiasm between the wickets at some points in his career he'd be the top runscorer by far, but such was his demeanour that it isn't the case. Many have commented on how he could have been one of the world's greatest, including his captain, Imran Khan, who noted, "He did not realise his true potential and he could have done better than he did."

His style
He was a big man, but he was also deft. The technicality of his shots was something to admire, it wasn't forced or muscled, but often subtle. That was all due to his timing. He had a true eye for the game and this let him see the ball early and therefore position himself and give himself time to play his strokes. This was why, in particular, he was such a great player against fast bowlers. A nerve you couldn't break and a cricketing brain that gave him time to play - it was a lethal combination. Playing off his legs and with one of the greatest pulls the game has ever seen, his seemingly effortless run-building is one of the real reasons he ranks at the top.


Inzamam-ul-Haq will now be a part of creating some of Pakistan's future batsmen who could learn a lot from this all-time great. He can talk about the shots and play the ball without ever having to pick up his stride. Though the prospects aren't looking the best, hopefully the work with start to pay off in the coming years if a batsman with Inzy's skill combines that with a real work ethic. Scary.