A total of 24 international cricketers have announced retirements in 2024 so far.
The year 2023 marked a few surprising retirement announcements in the game of cricket. English fans suffered a massive shock when Stuart Broad decided to announce the end of his cricket career during Ashes 2023. Broad was expected to go after James Anderson, but it panned the other way as he was the first one among the two to hang his boots.
Similarly, South African wicket-keeper Quinton De Kock decided to end his ODI career after the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 to shift his focus to T20 cricket. This also came as a big surprise for everyone.
The calendar year 2024 has also seen the end of several illustrious careers in test cricket. Australian opener David Warner and South African opener Dean Elgar said goodbye in the first week of January. This was followed by the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from the shortest international format.
This year marks the end of a few wonderful cricket careers across formats. Let’s have a look at the names who decided to put curtains down in 2024.
List of International cricketers who retired in 2024:
1. Dean Elgar (All formats):
South African opener Dean Elgar, who represented the country 86 Tests and 8 ODIs, announced his retirement from international cricket before the test series against India in December-January 2023-24. Elgar played the final match of his career against India in the New Year’s test against India at Newlands, Cape Town.
Dean Elgar was the first international cricketer to retire from the game in the year 2024. Elgar scored 5347 runs at an average of 37.92 with 14 centuries and 23 half-centuries in his test career of 86 matches. Elgar also captained South Africa in 18 test matches, where South Africa won 9 and lost 8.
2. David Warner (All formats):
David Warner announced his retirement from test cricket in June 2023 during the Ashes in England and said his last test series would be against Pakistan at home. Addressing his test retirement press-conference, Warner also announced his retirement from ODI cricket on New Year’s day. David Warner’s final test appearance came in the New Year’s test against Pakistan at the SCG while his last ODI appearance came in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 final against India on 19th November, 2023.
In his career, David Warner played 112 test matches and scored 8786 runs. In ODIs, he played 161 matches and scored 6932 runs. Warner has 48 centuries to his name in the above-mentioned two formats of the game. Australian opener David Warner got a winning farewell from the Australian side against Pakistan. Australia whitewashed Pakistan in a three-match Test series played in December-January 2023-24.
Later in the year in June, Warner retired from T20Is as well at the end of ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Warner had announced that the tournament will be his last in the shortest format of the game. After his team’s Super 8 round exit from the tournament, Warner’s T20I career came to an end.
3. Heinrich Klaasen (Tests)
South African wicket-keeper Heinrich Klaasen also retired in the year 2024. On 8th January, 2024, Heinrich Klaasen announced his retirement from Test cricket to shift his focus entirely to limited-overs cricket. Klaasen, who made his test debut against India in October 2019, managed to add just three more test caps, where he scored 108 runs. His last game in whites came against West Indies in March 2023 at the Wanderers, Johannesburg.
4. Saurabh Tiwary (All formats)
Left-handed Jharkhand batsman Saurabh Tiwary retired from professional cricket in February this year, bringing down a 17-year cricket career. He made his first-class debut in 2006/07 and was part of the under-19 World Cup-winning team in 2008 under Virat Kohli.
He was picked by Mumbai Indians in the IPL and had his best season in 2010, scoring 419 runs. He played three ODIs for India in 2010 but didn’t get more chances after that as his IPL performances dipped.
5. Varun Aaron (All formats)
Fast bowler Varun Aaron retired from first-class cricket in February this year, at the end of the Ranji Trophy season, in which he played for Jharkhand. Aaron goes out with 66 first-class games, nine of which were for India. In nine Tests between 2011 and 2015, Aaron managed to pick 18 wickets at an average of 52.
6. Neil Wagner (All formats)
New Zealand left-arm seamer Neil Wagner retired from international cricket earlier this year after being told his services as a bowler were no more required. Wagner featured in 64 Test matches for New Zealand from 2012 to 2024 and picked up 260 wickets. He was part of the Kiwi XI that beat India in the final of the World Test Championship 2021.
7. Colin Munro (All formats)
After missing out on selection for the T20 World Cup 2024, New Zealand opener Colin Munro retired from international cricket in May this year. Munro had played the last of his 65 T20Is in 2020. He wasn’t picked for the T20 World Cups in 2021 and 2022 but kept the hopes of featuring in this year’s edition alive by playing franchise cricket. He also played 57 ODIs and one Test match.
8. Dinesh Karthik (All formats)
Veteran India cricketer Dinesh Karthik retired from all forms of the game, including the IPL. The 39-year-old made this announcement after not being picked for India’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad, despite an impressive IPL 2024 season.
Karthik drew curtains on a long professional career that began in the 2002/03 season. Despite the presence of MS Dhoni for most part of his career, Karthik featured in 94 ODIs, 60 T20Is and 26 Test matches for India. His last international appearance was at the 2022 T20 World Cup.
He also featured in 256 IPL games and is one of the few players to have played in all IPL seasons until this year.
9. Kedar Jadhav (All formats)
39-year-old Kedar Jadhav announced his retiement from all forms of the game in June this year. The Pune-born cricketer represented India in 73 ODIs and nine T20Is. He hit two ODI centuries and six fifties, and was part of the 2019 World Cup squad. His last game for India was in 2020.
10. David Wiese (All formats)
All-rounder David Wiese played international cricket for two countries – South Africa and Namibia. He ended his career after the T20 World Cup 2024 with 54 T20Is and 15 ODIs to his name.
He left South African cricket in 2016 to take the Kolpak deal. He made his debut for Namibia in 2021 when he helped them qualify for the Super 12 round of the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE. He playe 34 T20Is and ninie ODIs for Namibia.
He will continue to play in T20 franchise leagues.
11. Sybrand Engelbrecht (All formats)
Netherlands batsman Sybrand Engelbrecht announced his retirement from international cricket at the end of the T20 World Cup 2024. Engelbrecht played 12 ODIs and as many T20Is since making his Netherlands debut in 2023.
Born in Johannesburg in 1988, Engelbrecht had played for South Africa in the 2008 under-19 World Cup. He had retired from cricket in 2016 to focus on his career as a financial and project manager. In 2021, he got placed in Netherlands by his company and he started playing cricket again.
12. Brian Masaba (T20Is)
Uganda captain Brian Masaba stepped down as the skipper and retired from international cricket after his team’s group stage exit from the T20 World Cup 2022. He featured in 63 T20Is in his career as an all-rounder.
Masaba had made his T20I debut in 2009 and had been Uganda’s captain in the last five years. Uganda played their first-ever T20 World Cup this year, and managed one win in four games.
13. Virat Kohli (T20Is)
While receiving the Man of the Match award in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 final, India star batsman Virat Kohli announced his retirement from the shortest internaional format. Kohli’s 76 was instrumental in India winning the final against South Africa.
He bows out as the second-higest T20I run-scorer and a two-time Player of the Tournament award winner at the T20 World Cups.
14. Rohit Sharma (T20Is)
After leading India to the title in the T20 World Cup 2024, Rohit Sharma announced that he is retiring from T20Is. He became only the third Indian skipper to win a World Cup trophy. At the time of his retirement, Rohit is the leading run-scorer in T20Is. He was the second-highest run-scorer in the T20 World Cup 2024.
15. Ravindra Jadeja (T20Is)
After winning the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 for India, Ravindra Jadeja joined Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in retiring from the shortest format of the game. Just a day after India’s win, Jadeja took it to social media to make the announcement. However, he will still play for India in the other two formats of the game.
Jadeja played 74 T20Is for India from 2009 to 2024, where he managed to score 515 runs and took 54 wickets with the ball.
16. James Anderson (All formats)
The year 2024 also saw the end of one of the greatest cricketers to have played test cricket, James Anderson. Anderson announced his retirement in May and his last test match came for England in July 2024. Having already played his last T20I in 2009 and last ODI in 2015, Anderson’s last test happened to be his last in international cricket as well.
Anderson ended his career as the second-most capped (188) player in tests, only behind Sachin Tendulkar (200). Anderson finished with 704 wickets in the longest format of the game, which is the most by any fast bowler and overall third behind Shane Warne (708) and Muttiah Muralitharan (800).
17. Shikhar Dhawan (All formats)
Opener Shikhar Dhawan announced his retirement from international and domestic cricket on August 24, 2024. The left-hander bows out with 2315 test runs, 6793 ODI runs and 1579 T20I runs. He racked up 17 ODI centuries and seven test hundreds.
Dhawan played a major role in helping India lift the ICC Champions Trophy 2013, where he was the leading run-scorer of the tournament. He had a stellar ODI career. He was India’s leading run-scorer in the Asia Cup 2014, World Cup 2015, Champions Trophy 2017 and Asia Cup 2018. His last international game was in 2022.
18. Dawid Malan (All formats)
Former No. 1 ranked ICC T20I batsman Dawid Malan announced his retirement from international cricket on August 28. Malan is one of the only two England batsmen (the other being Jos Buttler) to have hit centuries in all three international formats.
The left-hander made his T20I and test debuts against South Africa in 2017 and ODI debut against Ireland in 2019.
Malan amassed 1074 test runs at an average of 27.53, 1450 ODI runs at a superb average of 55.76, and 1892 T20I runs at 36.38. Overall, Malan made eight centuries and 32 half-centuries while representing England.
19. Shannon Gabriel (All formats)
West Indies speedster Shannon Gabriel announced his retirement from international cricket on August 28. The 36-year-old played 59 Tests, 25 ODIs, and two T20Is, in which he scalped a total of 202 wickets across all formats.
Gabriel has a good record for the West Indies in test cricket. He holds the record for the fourth-best match figures (13/121) for a West Indian, which he picked during a test match at home against Sri Lanka in June 2018.
The right-arm pacer also could generate pace and bounce even on lifeless pitches. At one point, legendary cricketer Courtney Walsh compared him to Patrick Patterson and Ian Bishop.
20. Will Pucovski (All formats)
26-year-old Australian batsman Will Pucovski was forced into retirement due to medical reasons. Pucovski suffered a spate of concussions and head injuries in his career. The last one in March this year was the final nail in the coffin of his professional career.
A prodigy as a youngster, Pucovski played only one test match in his career, against India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2021, and hit a fifty on debut. He played 26 First-Class games, scoring 2350 runs at an average of 45.19.
21. Barinder Sran (All formats)
Left-arm pacer Barinder Sran bowed out from international and domestic cricket at the age of 31. Sran played eight white-ball matches for India in 2016, picking up 13 wickets in total. His last domestic appearance for Punjab was in 2021. He snared 47 first-class wickets, and 45 wickets each in List-A and T20 cricket.
22. Moeen Ali (All formats)
England all-rounder Moeen Ali announced his retirement from international cricket on September 8, 2024, at the age of 37. Ali was part of England’s last two ICC trophy wins – the 2019 World Cup at home and the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. He was also a key member of the test side, even in home conditions.
Having made his England debut in 2014, Ali played 68 Tests, 138 ODIs and 92 T20Is. Overall, he scored 6678 runs, raised eight centuries and picked up 366 wickets in his international career.
23. Shakib Al Hasan (Test and T20I)
Hailed as Bangladesh’s greatest cricketer, Shakib Al Hasan retired from T20Is and test cricket this year but will continue to play ODIs. He bowed out from T20Is with 2251 runs, which is the most for his country in this format, including 13 fifties and 149 wickets, which is also the most for his country. In tests, he amassed over 4000 runs and snared over 240 wickets.
24. Mahmudullah (T20Is)
Former Bangladesh captain and veteran all-rounder Mahmudullah, who had retired from test cricket in 2021, bid adieu to T20Is in 2024. He will remain available for selection in ODIs. Mahmudullah featured in over 130 T20Is and is Bangladesh’s second-leading T20I run-scorer. He also picked up 40 wickets in this format.
(List updated till 8th October, 2024)
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