5 cricket legends who played their last Test against India

Sangakkara isn’t the only cricketer to have played his last Test against India “All good things come to an end one day“ and certainly in a cricketer’s life, the last day on the cricket field is probably the toughest of his entire career. To say goodbye to something you have done since you were so young is never easy, but as they say “players retire, but legends don’t”. With the retirement of Kumar Sangakkara, it feels like an era has come to an end. Most of the legends of the late 90’s and early part of the millennium have retired. The baton is now handed over to the likes of AB Devilliers, Virat Kohli, Joe Root and Steven Smith.Sangakkara chose India as his opposition to end his Test career but he is not the only high-profile cricketer to have done it so. We take a look at 5 legends who have played their farewell series against India.

#1 Steve Waugh (Australia) (2004)

Steve Waugh is congratulated by Rahul Dravid as he walks off after his final Test innings

India, led by Sourav Ganguly, went Down Under in 2003-04 to play a 4-match Test series against Australia which was followed by the traditional tri-nation One Day series (also featuring Zimbabwe). The series was a successful one for India as they managed to draw the Test series 1-1 and retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy.

This series will fondly be remembered as Steve Waugh’s farewell series. One of the greatest captains of all time, Waugh led the way and denied India a famous series win in the final Test at Sydney scoring a typically gritty half century on the last day of the match. Sachin Tendulkar scored his highest Test score of 241* in that game. He ended with 32 Test hundreds – 10th in the list of most centuries.

Waugh’s captaincy record was second to none; he led the Aussies to their second world cup triumph in 1999 at Lords & the Test team under him held the record of most consecutive Test wins (16) which ended in the historic game at Eden Gardens against India.

Under Steve Waugh, the Australian team played like the invincibles and won all over the world barring India which he regarded as his final frontier. One of the most respected cricketers of all time Waugh, post his retirement, established the ‘Steve Waugh Foundation aimed at children who have a disease, an illness or an affliction.

#2 Adam Gilchrist (Australia) (2008)

Gilchrist leads the Australian team out against India

The greatest wicket-keeper-batsman of all time, Adam Gilchrist redefined modern cricket with his aggressive batting. Boasting three world cup winners medal (1999, 2003, 2007), ‘Gilly’ as he’s popularly known as, was the face of Australian cricket for many years. Be it coming in at No 7 in Test matches or opening in the day games, Gilly dominated bowlers all over the world.

On 26 January 2008, during the 4th and final Test of the 2007-08 against India, Gilchrist announced that he would retire from international cricket at the end of the season. Australia won the 4-match Test series 2-1. The last match at Adelaide ended in a draw. This series, however, would be remembered for the monkey-gate controversy and the questionable umpiring decisions at Sydney in the second Test, a match that India could have easily won.

Gilchrist’s retirement brought an end to an amazing Test career, where he averaged almost 50 with the bat and scalped more than 400 dismissals with the gloves. He was undoubtedly one of the key members of the Aussie juggernaut for more than a decade.

After the Test series, he went on to play his last ODIs in the tri-nation series, featuring India and Srilanka. Later on, he led the Deccan Chargers to the IPL title in season 2.

#3 Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) (2010)

MS Dhoni shakes hands with Muralitharan after his final Test appearance

The ‘freak’ Muttiah Muralitharan played his last Test against India at Galle, Sri Lanka. His last ball in Test cricket was a memorable one as he got Pragyan Ojha out to claim his 800th wicket in Test matches. That was the series opener and Murali decided to call time on his career at his favourite venue. He was thoroughly missed as India recovered from their loss at Galle to equalise the series.

Coincidentally, he played his last ODI also against India, the final of the 2011 cricket world cup. World cricket will probably never get to see an enigma like Murali again.

The greatest off-spinner of all times had to go through some tough times in the past, especially when his action was under the scanner. But he fought through the tough times and went on to take a record tally of 1334 international wickets (800 in Tests and 534 ODI scalps). A fierce competitor, Murali always had a smile on his face and every opposition team player respected him.

#4 Jacques Kallis (South Africa) (2013)

Zaheer Khan congratulates Kallis on his illustrious Test career

Jacques Henry Kallis is definitely the finest ever South African cricketer ever to have played the game of cricket. The all rounder could find a place in the team purely as a batsman or as a bowler. His record speaks volumes of his contribution to South Africa. More than 13,000 Test runs, close to 300 test wickets and add to that 200 catches.

Jacques Kallis gave the team the much needed balance. South Africa could play with 5 bowlers with Kallis not just giving crucial breaks to the front line seamers but also picking up wickets. Coming in at No.3, he was like a rock for the Proteas and maintained a career average in excess of 55 for 166 Test matches.

He went out of Test cricket with a bang leading his side to a Test series win over India. Kallis scored a classy century in his final Test innings at Kingsmead, Durban and South Africa won the match by 10 wickets and with it the 2-match series 1-0.

Kallis is not often considered in the same bracket as that of Tendulkar, Lara or Ponting, but he averages more than all of them and to add to that he also got 292 Test wickets. He ended with 45 Test hundreds, second only to Sachin. Often he’s compared to Sir Garfield Sobers and if you look at pure stats and numbers, he’s the MVP (Most Valuable Player) of all time.

#5 Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) (2015)

Sangakkara called time on his Test career against India recently

Kumar Sangakkara played his last two international matches in the recently concluded Test series against India. Unfortunately, Sri Lanka lost the 3-match series 2-1. The last 4 innings that Sanga (as he’s popularly known) played weren’t memorable but if one looks at his overall Test career, you will know why he’s rated by many one as one of the all-time greats.

His average of 57 .40 in Tests is higher than any of his contemporaries. He began as a wicket-keeper batsman but grew in stature as a batsman and played as a pure batsman in the latter part of his career. He ended with 38 Test centuries, 5th in all time lists and he has scored 100s against all Test playing nations. All this while playing at the crucial No 3 spot.

He’s also scored the second most number of double centuries (11). He’s currently playing county cricket in England for Surrey and looks like his appetite for scoring has not ended as he scored yet another first-class hundred to lead his team into the finals of their domestic competition.