Playing for the country is a dream of every cricketer and all the cricketers desire to represent the country for the longest time possible but with each passing day, the competition in the Indian cricketing circles is increasing and it is becoming difficult for players to play for longer period. Well, this was not the case always but still some good players had to take early retirement due to various reasons and here we are going to tell you about 5 such cricketers:
1. Nari Contractor:
The left-handed opener made his international debut in the year 1955 and went on to represent the country till 1962. Although he could have played for India for longer time, his career ended early because of a serious injury. Nari Contractor was the youngest Indian captain as he donned the captain cap at the age of 26 and in 1962 during the West Indies tour, he got hit at his head by a bouncer bowled by Charlie Griffith, fortunately his life was saved after two surgeries but his career came to an end.
Nari Contractor played 31 test matches for the country in which he scored 1611 runs that include 1 century and 11 fifties.
2. Syed Saba Karim:
The cricketer from Bihar got the chance to play for the country when he was 33 years old but the wicketkeeper-batter didn’t have a long career because he suffered an eye injury during an ODI match against Bangladesh in 2000. Saba Karim played 1 test match and 34 ODIs in which he scored 15 runs and 362 runs, respectively.
3. Pragyan Ojha:
Pragyan Ojha made his debut at the international level in the year 2008 and he played his first test match in 2009. He was an attacking slow left arm orthodox bowler who was considered to be a test specialist and his pairing with Ravichandran Ashwin was quite lethal. However in 2014, he was prohibited from playing competitive cricket as his bowling action was found illegal but in the year 2015, he cleared the test and was allowed to bowl again. Nevertheless, the growing stature of Ravindra Singh Jadeja made it a little difficult for Pragyan Ojha to cement his place in the team once again and Sachin Tendulkar’s last test match was the last match of Ojha too in which he was awarded with the Player of the Match award. Pragyan Ojha played 24 test matches, 18 ODIs and 6 T20Is in which he took 113 wickets, 21 wickets and 10 wickets, respectively.
4. Praveen Kumar:
The medium pacer who played for Uttar Pradesh in domestic cricket was one of the best swing bowlers of his times. He used to swing the ball both the sides and it was very difficult to counter him on the pitches which were helpful for pacers. He had the capability to take wickets on even flat tracks but frequent injuries made it difficult for him to cement his place in the team. Later on he also had stress related issues and he even attempted to take his life due to stress. Praveen Kumar represented the country in 6 test matches and 68 ODIs in which he took 27 and 77 wickets, respectively.
5. Ravi Shastri:
The former Indian cricketer who also served as the head coach of team India some time back was a part of the Indian cricket team from the year 1981 to 1992. Though he had established himself as an opener, he had to take early retirement because of his repeated knee injuries. Ravi Shastri is one of the most famous commentators of the present times and as far as his cricket career is concerned, he played 80 test matches and 150 ODIs for the country in which he scored 3830 runs and 3108 runs, respectively. Ravi Shastri also took 151 test wickets and 129 ODI wickets in his international career.
The good thing is that at least these players got the chance to represent the country at the international level otherwise there are so many cricketers who perform well at the domestic level but still don’t get the chance to play at the big stage.