Staying active for a long time in the world of sports is not easy. Some players lose their courage and retire due to not getting a place in the team. At the same time, at some age, due to their poor performance, they are forced to retire. However, most retirements come as a surprise to those players who are too young or at the top level of their game to retire.
Although there were some players who retired but also made a comeback for different reasons. Today in this article, we take a look at 4 player who came out of retirement to play the game.
Shahid Afridi
Pakistan’s legendary all-rounder Shahid Afridi has returned to international cricket after retiring several times. Afridi first joined the team back in 2006 only two weeks after retiring from Tests and then retired completely from Tests in 2010. He played ODI cricket for Pakistan until 2015, after returning only a few months after retiring from all formats in 2011.
After this, he retired completely in 2017 but returned for the T20 match against World XI the very next year and retired after that. The legendary all-rounder has achieved more than 10000 thousand runs and more than 500 wickets in international cricket.
Kevin Pietersen
England’s stylish batsman Kevin Pietersen left the limited overs cricket in 2011, after which he again surprised the cricket world by returning to the team a few months later. Kevin Pietersen’s career was full of controversies. Pietersen played his last match in 2014. After being out of the team for several years, Pietersen said goodbye to international cricket forever in 2018.
Imran Khan
Imran Khan, the captain of Pakistan’s only ODI World Cup winning team, also comes among the players who made a comeback after retiring from international cricket. Imran Khan retired from international cricket after the 1987 World Cup. However, he returned to the team once again in 1988 when asked by the President of Pakistan and four years later under his captaincy, he made Pakistan champion in the 1992 World Cup.
Javed Miandad
Legendary batsman Javed Miandad, who played the most Test matches for Pakistan, also returned to the game after retiring from international cricket like Imran Khan, ten days after retirement at the behest of Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and remained associated with the team till 1996, after which he officially retired.