The dilemma with sub-continent players: An obsession to play till late 30s and 40s at the expense of young guns

[The Bald Eagle]

The players of other countries like Eoin Morgan, AB de Villiers, Sunil Narine, Andrew Flintoff, Alastair Cook etc do take early retirements when they reckon that they can't deliver well for their national side anymore.

Recently Sunil Narine discarded the probability of a comeback to the national side despite some brilliant performances in current IPL season. While on the flip side Pakistani players never consider themselves old enough to hang their boots and are ever ready to make a comeback to the national side. For instance Imran Nazir, Shoaib Malik, Sarfaraz Ahmed are still willing to play for the national side. Also the change of minds by Imad and Amir after tall claims of perpetual retirement is also a glaring example of it.

So the question is why Pakistan and players from other sub continent region are too obsessed with playing till late while the players from other nations preferring to retire in their early and mid 30s just to afford their spots to the young guns?

 

[RyanRyan10]

Pakistan cricketers are the most patriotic cricketers in the world. They have consistently displayed a deep sense of patriotism and unity, setting aside their differences when it comes to playing for the nation. Credit also goes to the establishment for ensuring this unity. They persuaded Amir and Imad to eturn from retirement for the benefit of the team.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

A common misconception among Pakistani fans is that Old is Gold. That is true for rice only not players.

We won our cups on back of young Wasim Akram, Inzimam, Fakhar, Hasan Ali and Afridi not because of old guys.

 

[NishanKonar]

Its more greed & lust for money / fame by desi cricketers. Playing for NT means more fame / money / sponsorships which is why they keep stretching their careers. Helped by inept selectors & board who don't have the guts to ask them to retire

Its a common problem in desi culture - look at Dhoni / Ganguly / Afridi / Shoaib Malik / Hafeez. Now wea re seeing the same with Kohli / Jadeja / Rohit

In SENA there is no real benefits for stretching ur NT career. Also their selectors & board do not tolerate underperformers beyond a point. Look at how often top notch players were dropped unceremoniously when they stop delivering. Smart guys know this & hence retire early & focus on domestic T20 cricket to maximize their returns & income

 

[Major]

Different types of society/education/career choices

We all loved to sit here and say so and so should retire, but we dont know the hard work that that guy put in to get there where he is and we are no one to make calls on any xyzs career.

Alot of these cricketers are rags to riches stories. Alot of them were nobodies with no respect in their own families and cant even afford to buy meat. They would practice 12 hours a day on a daily basis just hoping to get a first class contract. Thus, once they get to play for Pakistan, they not only get to play for the country, but get all the perks.

Think about it, travelling by air, have fans come up to you, journalist kissing up to you, that girl who would never talk to you is running after you. You wake up everyday in a nice hotel with a breakfast buffet and can eat any food you want and buy any clothes you want. Its a luxury life. You are a celebrity.

Retiring means not only giving up on all that, there are other problems after retirement. You also have to lose your celebrity status.

Alot of these cricketers are playing with fake birth certificates, and now have govt documents made on fake names/ages. Thus, there previous education becomes useless and are considered uneducated in the eyes of society, hence no matter how well spoken they may become, but they cant get a job. So at the age of 30, with no education, they cant find a job, because they only know one thing that is playing cricket. If they retire, they lose all the sponsor moneys, advertising monies and all the contracts that they have.

These youtube, and media gigs only just started now, but few years ago these things did not exist.

When Sarfraz won the Champions trophy, the best moment of his life was probably the journey he made from the airport back to his house and than finally standing on the balcony of his home with whole Pakistan showing up in his mohalla singing dil dil pakistan. That is the peak moment of being a celebrity, and its really hard to walk past that.

Our society and sociology is very different compared to an Australians.

Cummins won a world cup landed back home as if nothing had happened and probably went home and slept quietly at night. One day Cummins can retire and can get a decent enough job to live his life quietly.

In Pakistan, there is a lack of jobs and the jobs that exist are low paid.

 

[Major]

A common misconception among Pakistani fans is that Old is Gold. That is true for rice only not players.

We won our cups on back of young Wasim Akram, Inzimam, Fakhar, Hasan Ali and Afridi not because of old guys.

World T20 was won because of the experience that the guys bought in.

Champions trophy 2017 was just a fluke that we pulled off that the Indians still cannot understand till this day that how we won it and they couldnt do is in the last 10 years. It was the greatest slam dunk we ever made, especially when we lost to India and they made all sorts of big comments on the eve of the final and than to see the cameras be pinned on the exit gate where bleed blue were bleeding away for home

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Its more greed & lust for money / fame by desi cricketers. Playing for NT means more fame / money / sponsorships which is why they keep stretching their careers. Helped by inept selectors & board who don't have the guts to ask them to retire

Its a common problem in desi culture - look at Dhoni / Ganguly / Afridi / Shoaib Malik / Hafeez. Now wea re seeing the same with Kohli / Jadeja / Rohit

In SENA there is no real benefits for stretching ur NT career. Also their selectors & board do not tolerate underperformers beyond a point. Look at how often top notch players were dropped unceremoniously when they stop delivering. Smart guys know this & hence retire early & focus on domestic T20 cricket to maximize their returns & income

You have made a good point its actually more of a sub continent obsession with Indian and Pakistan players leading from the front.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Pakistan cricketers are the most patriotic cricketers in the world. They have consistently displayed a deep sense of patriotism and unity, setting aside their differences when it comes to playing for the nation. Credit also goes to the establishment for ensuring this unity. They persuaded Amir and Imad to eturn from retirement for the benefit of the team.

@mominsaigol and @Rana may agree with you bro but the truth is these guys have just 2 years left in the tank.

Same dilemma with the Indians where guys like Ashwin, Kohli, Jadeja, DK and Rohit blocking the road for the young guys.

 

[mominsaigol]

Pakistan cricketers are the most patriotic cricketers in the world. They have consistently displayed a deep sense of patriotism and unity, setting aside their differences when it comes to playing for the nation. Credit also goes to the establishment for ensuring this unity. They persuaded Amir and Imad to eturn from retirement for the benefit of the team.

Bruh moment

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Pakistan players are too loyal but not to their own team but rather more loyal to the opponents.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Alastair Cook was one of the greatest openers to bat for England. He retired from the sport at 33, while at the peak of his powers. By then, he had already played 161 Tests for England and amassed 12472 runs for England. It remains the most Test runs scored by an Englishman in the longest format of the game.What makes his achievements special is that most of his runs came in England, where the pitches are known to assist pacers. Cook also captained England in 59 Test matches and led them to a series win against India in the sub-continent.

While for veterans like Misbah, Younis Khan, Dhoni the media had to nag them for a decade after they finally retired.

 

[deltexas]

It's time guys like rohit kohli klrahul jadeja pandya are chucked out of white ball cricket. Time to inject some younger players. These guys have had cracks at multiple icc events. Would probably keep kohli for odis ss he has the perfect run a ball odi template and a good fielder as well

 

[The Bald Eagle]

It's time guys like rohit kohli klrahul jadeja pandya are chucked out of white ball cricket. Time to inject some younger players. These guys have had cracks at multiple icc events. Would probably keep kohli for odis ss he has the perfect run a ball odi template and a good fielder as well

The tragedy is that if these two VK and Rohit play for India this world cup then guys like Abhishek, Parag and Jaiswal would suffer the most and that would be too bad for Indian cricket team
====

'Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma should consider giving up on...': Yuvraj Singh on T20 World Cup squad​

Former India cricketer Yuvraj Singh has a suggestion for the star duo – Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli – and it is not about their position in the ICC T20 World Cup set to begin in June this year.

Yuvraj, as quoted by the International Cricket Council (ICC), suggested Rohit and Kohli should consider giving up on playing T20I cricket after the completion of the T20 World Cup and concentrate on other formats.

The former all-rounder reminded fans that Virat and Rohit have been playing for India so long and have the right to make their own decisions.

"As you get older, people start talking about your age and they forget about your form. These guys have been great players for India and they deserve to go (retire) when they want," Yuvraj said.

"I would like to see more younger players in the T20 format, because it gets the load off them (experienced players) playing 50-over (ODIs) and Test matches," he was quoted as saying.

Yuvraj further emphasised that after this T20 World Cup, he would like to see a lot of younger guys come into the team and make the T20 side for the next World Cup.

He, however, refused to put an end date on when he thinks Sharma and Kohli should retire from international cricket.

Virat and Rohit are expected to be the first two names on India's T20 World Cup squad. The duo had not played a T20I in more than a year since India's loss in the 2022 World Cup but returned in January 2024 in a series against Afghanistan.

Source: The Mint

 

[topspin]

The players of other countries like Eoin Morgan, AB de Villiers, Sunil Narine, Andrew Flintoff, Alastair Cook etc do take early retirements when they reckon that they can't deliver well for their national side anymore.

Recently Sunil Narine discarded the probability of a comeback to the national side despite some brilliant performances in current IPL season. While on the flip side Pakistani players never consider themselves old enough to hang their boots and are ever ready to make a comeback to the national side. For instance Imran Nazir, Shoaib Malik, Sarfaraz Ahmed are still willing to play for the national side. Also the change of minds by Imad and Amir after tall claims of perpetual retirement is also a glaring example of it.

So the question is why Pakistan and players from other sub continent region are too obsessed with playing till late while the players from other nations preferring to retire in their early and mid 30s just to afford their spots to the young guns?

The uncomfortable truth is Misbah has set a bad precedent for Pakistan cricket. We already have a clone of his in Iftikhar, who's over 40, following the Misbah template.

All these younger players now believe that they can play till their 45 because of "seniority and experience".

 

[Deewana Mastana]

I won't call it a dilemma rather it's an obsession more than anything.

 

[mominsaigol]

The uncomfortable truth is Misbah has set a bad precedent for Pakistan cricket. We already have a clone of his in Iftikhar, who's over 40, following the Misbah template.

All these younger players now believe that they can play till their 45 because of "seniority and experience".

Tbf it's not just pakistani players. Indian players also like playing till 40+.

Although 37-39 international and 40-43 for ipl and leagues

 

[Savak]

Different types of society/education/career choices

We all loved to sit here and say so and so should retire, but we dont know the hard work that that guy put in to get there where he is and we are no one to make calls on any xyzs career.

Alot of these cricketers are rags to riches stories. Alot of them were nobodies with no respect in their own families and cant even afford to buy meat. They would practice 12 hours a day on a daily basis just hoping to get a first class contract. Thus, once they get to play for Pakistan, they not only get to play for the country, but get all the perks.

Think about it, travelling by air, have fans come up to you, journalist kissing up to you, that girl who would never talk to you is running after you. You wake up everyday in a nice hotel with a breakfast buffet and can eat any food you want and buy any clothes you want. Its a luxury life. You are a celebrity.

Retiring means not only giving up on all that, there are other problems after retirement. You also have to lose your celebrity status.

Alot of these cricketers are playing with fake birth certificates, and now have govt documents made on fake names/ages. Thus, there previous education becomes useless and are considered uneducated in the eyes of society, hence no matter how well spoken they may become, but they cant get a job. So at the age of 30, with no education, they cant find a job, because they only know one thing that is playing cricket. If they retire, they lose all the sponsor moneys, advertising monies and all the contracts that they have.

These youtube, and media gigs only just started now, but few years ago these things did not exist.

When Sarfraz won the Champions trophy, the best moment of his life was probably the journey he made from the airport back to his house and than finally standing on the balcony of his home with whole Pakistan showing up in his mohalla singing dil dil pakistan. That is the peak moment of being a celebrity, and its really hard to walk past that.

Our society and sociology is very different compared to an Australians.

Cummins won a world cup landed back home as if nothing had happened and probably went home and slept quietly at night. One day Cummins can retire and can get a decent enough job to live his life quietly.

In Pakistan, there is a lack of jobs and the jobs that exist are low paid.

I once remember both Shoaib Akhtar and Wasim Akram mention in a joint interview that retirement is the most stressful event for a Pakistani Cricketer even if he has played for his country at the highest level and stayed there for so long because you still have to worry about finding good quality work and how to earn top level income even after your playing days are over.

Pakistani Cricketers in the last 10-20 years have become smarter with their money and have invested heavily in real estate, other businesses. Only the top players can venture into commentary. PSL has also opened up additional coaching opportunities and the PCB has recently started reaching out to recent retired players to give back to the game via NCA coaching opportunities.

It's like what Shoaib Akhtar said in an interview, once you are out of the team or retired, koi bhi aap ko nahin poochta and that is very hard to deal with and accept

 

[Nikhil_cric]

It's not a South Asian issue. Look at the last World Cup and see how selecting finished cricketers like Moeen, Stokes ,Bairstow ended up looking like for England.

 

[RKhan_Cricket]

When Ab de Villiers retired so early, that was the moment when I actually believed that Virat would also retire once he reached 35. A lot of noise was going around at that time that this guy plays for India, not for the records, and he also looks like someone who believes that there is a world outside of cricket as well. Virat also said once, "Once I feel I am not contributing to the team, I will retire gracefully, and if we look at it from 2020 until 2022, he didn't contribute that much. If we remove the T20 knocks, he is still hanging around. Maybe at that time he had not thought that he would be having such a slump in his career. Look at him now. I am pretty sure that if Bcci removes him from the squad for this year's T20 World Cup, he will still be waiting for the 2026 T20 World Cup. It's an Asian thing to not retire and take someone else's position. He was someone who was always my favorite, but I can't believe when I see him now slowing down just to score Century. He is doing exactly what his students are doing, which is running a ball and going for milestones.

 

[emranabbas]

Can really blame the players when they debut at 30+

Misbah has changed the trend forever

 

[FearlessRoar]

I guess in modern day cricket, a cricketer becomes a more refined player after the age of 30.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

I guess in modern day cricket, a cricketer becomes a more refined player after the age of 30.

But in Western countries players start thinking of retirement at such an age, while here in the subcontinent players keep singing that song "abhi to main jawan hon"

 

[cricketcricket79]

The players of other countries like Eoin Morgan, AB de Villiers, Sunil Narine, Andrew Flintoff, Alastair Cook etc do take early retirements when they reckon that they can't deliver well for their national side anymore.

Recently Sunil Narine discarded the probability of a comeback to the national side despite some brilliant performances in current IPL season. While on the flip side Pakistani players never consider themselves old enough to hang their boots and are ever ready to make a comeback to the national side. For instance Imran Nazir, Shoaib Malik, Sarfaraz Ahmed are still willing to play for the national side. Also the change of minds by Imad and Amir after tall claims of perpetual retirement is also a glaring example of it.

So the question is why Pakistan and players from other sub continent region are too obsessed with playing till late while the players from other nations preferring to retire in their early and mid 30s just to afford their spots to the young guns?

I can understand the players mentality to hang around till they can barely walk. It is not fault of players. I blame the selectors for lacking the courage to kick the big names out of the team when it is clear that they are over the hill. There are many examples that come to mind where selectors could have pushed someone out instead of waiting for players to quit. A good example right now is that Jason Roy was left out of the England team recently. If he was a subcontinental player with similar level of name and fame, no way he would have been dropped.