The Indian Premier League is one of the most popular sporting events of the world and there is no denying the fact that it has become so popular and superior because of the great and famous players who have given some amazing performances in this tournament over the years. Fans are waiting eagerly for IPL 2023 to start so that they can see their favourite cricketers in action but some of them will get disappointed this year because they won’t be able to see four great cricketers in the league as they have decided to take retirement from IPL.
Here are those four cricketers who have announced retirement from the tournament:
1. Kieron Pollard:
The former skipper of West Indian cricket team is undoubtedly a legend of the shortest format of the game as he has played more than 600 T20I matches in his cricketing career. Kieron Pollard was known for not just his extraordinary hitting skills as a batter but he was a good fielder and a useful bowling option for his team as well. He is one of those very few cricketers who have played for only one franchise throughout their IPL career. He debuted for Mumbai Indians in 2010 and since then he has been a part of MI; he has played an important role in 5 IPL wins (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020) and two Champions League title wins (2011 and 2013).
Kieron Pollard officially announced his retirement before the names of the retained players were announced by IPL teams ahead of the auctions for IPL 2022. He will take up a new role of batting coach with Mumbai Indians and hopefully the MI batters will benefit a lot with his experience and knowledge.
2. Robin Uthappa:
The former Indian cricketer who used to play for Kerala in domestic cricket was known for his explosive batting style and the last team for which he played in IPL was Chennai Super Kings. Robin Uthappa has played for many IPL teams in his IPL career – Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Pune Warriors India.
He played an important role in CSK’s 2021 IPL win as he scored 345 runs in the 16 matches that he played for the franchise. He was a part of two IPL winning teams, first with KKR in 2014 and second time in 2021 with CSK. He announced his retirement from the game in September 2022 but he has played quite a good number of match-winning knocks for team India and IPL teams which will always be remembered by his fans.
3. Suresh Raina:
The former Indian cricketer has a great record in IPL as he has scored 5528 runs in 205 matches played by him; this also includes 39 fifties and one century. Suresh Raina was called Mr. IPL because of his tremendous record in the Indian T20 League and he was the highest run scorer for CSK in the tournament. He played an important role in CSK’s 3 title wins but he was ignored by the franchise in IPL 2021 and he went unsold in IPL 2022. Suresh Raina announced retirement after going unsold in auctions for IPL 2022 and many fans of the left-hander cricketer slammed the franchise and CSK skipper MS Dhoni for treating Raina like this because they felt that he deserved a better farewell than this.
4. Dwayne Bravo:
The West Indian all-rounder entertained us not just with his cricketing skills in IPL but also with his songs, dance and on-field hilarious actions. He started his career with Mumbai Indians but later on, he was signed with Chennai Super Kings and he has 3 IPL titles and one Champions League title under his belt with CSK. He has played IPL for 14 seasons and now after retirement, he will join CSK as their bowling coach as he is the highest wicket-taker with 183 dismissals in the Indian T20 League.
We will surely miss these four cricketers.