4 Indian veterans who might announce retirement from International cricket in 2019

The ICC 2019 Cricket World Cup is less than five months away and Team India is preparing for the big event which is set to commence from May 30th. The men in blue under the leadership of Virat Kohli will be aiming for their 3rd ODI World Cup title that will take place in England. The current Indian setup is a mix of hugely talented youngsters aided by few experienced players.

While a majority of the youngsters will be playing their first ever ICC World Cup, the likes of M.S Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma will be the experienced lot who have already tasted the experience of playing a World Cup tournament.

The players have ample time to get their form right before the mega tournament and with the 12th edition of Indian Premier League to be played right before the World Cup, the selectors would be keenly watching the performance of the players and would decide on whom to select in the squad that flies to England.

While many cricketers are currently out of contention for a spot in the national team, let us look at 4 veterans who might announce retirement from International cricket in 2019.

---

#4 Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh was the man of the series in 2011 World Cup

Man of the series of the 2011 World Cup, Yuvraj Singh's cricketing career graph has gone downwards ever since and is struggling to get back into the national team.

In a career spanning more than 19 years, Yuvraj Singh has scored more than 10,000 runs in all formats of the game. Health issues and decline in form after the 2011 World Cup has made it difficult to fix a permanent spot in the team. Yuvraj was also left out of the 2015 World cup and despite making a comeback in the limited overs format of the game, his spot was always in danger due to inconsistency and heavy competition from youngsters.

He was bought by the Mumbai Indians for the 12th edition of Indian Premier League and this season will be an acid test for Yuvraj as another bad season could well diminish his chances of playing for the national team.

This also might be the year, where Yuvraj might call it a day from International Cricket.

#3 Amit Mishra

Amit Mishra last played for Team India in 2016

Amit Mishra is regarded as one of the finest leg-spinners that India has ever produced. The leggie made his ODI debut for Team India way back in 2003. After playing only two games in a tri-series tournament in Bangladesh, the leg spinner was left out for 6 years until he made an ODI comeback in 2009.

Heavy competition in the form of Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble is the reason why Amit Mishra couldn't regularly fit into the squad. In an ODI career spanning more than 15 years, Amit Mishra could only play 34 ODIs. However, he has an impressive record of picking up 64 wickets at an impressive average of 23.61.

His last appearance for the national team was against New Zealand at home in 2016, where he picked up 5/18 that helped India win the Match and was also awarded the Man of the Match.

With age not on his side and a settled spin bowling attack, Amit Mishra might not play again for Team India and might announce his retirement from International Cricket this year.

#2 Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh is regarded as one of the best off-spinners India has ever produced

Harbhajan Singh is regarded as one of the finest off-spinners that India has ever produced. He made his debut for Team India at the age of 18 in 1998 and made an immediate impression with the ball in the tri-series in Sharjah.

However, his real breakthrough was against Australia in the test series at home in 2001/02, where he picked up 32 wickets that helped India win the Test series. Ever since there has been no looking back as him along with Anil Kumble were the duo that tormented the opposition teams both at home and away.

In a career span of more than 20 years, Harbhajan has picked up more than 700 wickets in all formats of the game for the national team. However, decrease in form post the 2011 World cup and competition from the likes of Ravi Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Pragyan Ojha has made it difficult for the off-spinner to find a spot in the national team.

Harbhajan Singh last made an appearance in 2015 against South Africa at home in a one dayer in Mumbai, which India lost. Harbhajan is currently set to play for Chennai Super Kings in the upcoming edition of IPL and he would need to perform out of the skin to have any chance of getting back into the national team. This also might be the year in which Harbhajan Singh might hang up his boots and call it a day from International Cricket.

#1 M.S Dhoni

Dhoni is regarded as the best captain of Indian Cricket Team

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is probably the best India captain that lead the national team in all the formats of the game. The Jharkhand Dynamite has made his debut way back in 2004 in a ODI series against Bangladesh. After being dismissed for a duck, his career graph could only go upwards and there is no looking back.

The man has achieved everything in cricket be it the 2007 T20 World cup triumph or the 2011 50 Over World Cup win at home or the Champions trophy triumph in 2013 in England. Not to forget 3 IPL trophies makes him the most successful cricketer to play the game of Cricket.

In a career span of more than 15 years, M.S Dhoni has scored more than 15,000 International runs across all formats of the game. He retired from Test Cricket in 2014 and stepped down from the captaincy in limited overs format in 2017.

Despite being relived from captaincy pressure, M.S has not been at his best with the bat in the International stage. Age is certainly a factor and with 2019 World Cup being his last appearance in an International tournament, he would want to be on the winning side and most probably it is expected that he would call it a day from International cricket this year.