5 lean patches that forced great Indian cricketers into retirement

It is an accepted fact that great cricketers are almost given a bit of a leeway when it comes to the axe from the national cricket board. Everyone goes through a period of poor form with the bat or ball and the great cricketers almost always stem the tide. However, it is possible when those players in question are still at an age when they can be an asset to the team for the longer term and hence they do not get the chop like others

That said, a lean patch which may be down to declining abilities and advancing age, then the selectors have no other option but to drop the player. Over the chequered history of Indian cricket, plenty of great cricketers have had to call time on their careers after going through a prolonged bad patch, that resulted in them getting the axe.

Here is a look at 5 of those.

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#5 Virender Sehwag

If one is to make a short list of some of the best batsmen that India has ever produced, then Virender Sehwag would certainly be on it. However, the severe loss of form that he suffered from after the 2011 World Cup, eventually led to the end of his career. In the last 18 Test matches in his career, starting from January of 2011 to the end of his career, he scored only one century and averaged an abysmal 28.62 (as opposed to his career average of 49.34).

The fact that he had taken to wearing spectacles must not have helped matters either. In one-dayers, he did better, and in fact, scored the famous 219 against the West Indies in December 2011. However, a quiet series in Sri Lanka, followed by two failures against Pakistan in 2012-13 signalled the end of his career.

He announced his retirement in 2015 to bring down the curtains on a stellar career.

#4 Dilip Vengsarkar

Dilip Vengsarkar

Mumbai batsman Dilip Vengsarkar was India's best in the 1980s and had been ranked as the best batsman in the world by the rating system of the era for around two years. However, the final few seasons of his career, from November 1988 till the end of the Australian tour in February 1992, was a torrid period that finally forced him to retire from the game.

During the 18 Test matches in that time span, he did not score a single century and averaged 22.66 (career average 42.13) and his struggle was particularly palpable in the tour of the West Indies in 1989. However, the 1991-92 tour of Australia proved to be the final nail as Vengsarkar averaged only 17.55 in 5 Test Down Under. Calls for his ouster had already gathered currency by that time and once he returned from that tour, he did the decent thing.

#3 Mohinder Amarnath

Mohinder Amarnath

The man who was Player of the Match in both the semi-final and the final of India's triumphant 1983 World Cup campaign was known more for his hugely courageous batting in Test cricket. In 1983, Mohinder Amarnath faced up to two of the best fast bowling attacks in the world in the form of the West Indies and Pakistan and scored heaps of runs.

However, his career came undone from around the summer of 1986 and then nosedived by the time he played his last Test in 1988. After a disappointing series in India against arch-rivals Pakistan, he had a poor run of scores in the Test series against West Indies. In the 15 Test matches played in that period, he scored at an average of 33.23 (career average 42.50) and scored a solitary ton. Amarnath called it a day not long after that series.

#2 Bishan Singh Bedi

Bishan Singh Bedi at the ICC Annual Awards

According to many, Bishan Singh Bedi is one of the greatest spinners to have ever played for India and in fact, he is often counted among the greatest left-arm orthodox bowlers to have ever played the game. Bedi's career haul of 266 wickets in 67 Tests makes him one of the most prolific spinners from India and throughout his career, he had been one of India's few match-winners during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

However, it was his poor form from 1978 onwards coupled with the disastrous show in Pakistan that seemed to have sealed his fate. After taking 10 wickets in the last two Tests in Australia at the start of the year, Bedi could only take 6 wickets in 3 Tests in Pakistan and from then on his form went downhill. In the last 11 matches in his career, he picked up only 30 wickets at an average of 43.76 (career average 28.71) and had failed to record even a single five-wicket haul.

He played his last Test in 1979 and soon retired soon after.

#1 Kapil Dev

Kapil Dev

Sometimes the pursuit of a world record can be a bit too tempting and no cricketer worth his salt is immune to it and that is what happened with Kapil Dev towards the end of his career. He was one of India's and indeed, the world's, top medium pace swing bowlers, however, towards the end of his career his form had plateaued a bit. Even then, he kept going as he seemed quite close to the world record for most Test wickets and his numbers in the last few years were a testament to that fact.

In his last 19 Tests, played between January 1992 and March 1994, Kapil picked up 49 wickets with no five-wicket hauls and his strike rate had rocketed up to 80.3 (career strike rate 63.9). The fact that his poor form was being noticed became abundantly clear when he retired after playing just one more Test after attaining his world record.