Kane Williamson is not alone, many big players have decided to retire during the test series.

Delhi: Former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson’s decision to retire in the middle of the Test series against England has surprised everyone in cricket. The discussion about his record of most Test runs for New Zealand had not even ended when he suddenly announced his retirement from international cricket. After all, why does it happen that a captain or a player reaches the decision of his retirement in the middle of the series? Joining the team for the series is an indication that right now the focus is on playing and even then it is surprising if such a decision is taken suddenly. See the 5 most popular examples of recent years:

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Kane Williamson (New Zealand): The player who scored the most Test runs for his team played in the first Test against England at Lord’s. Age 35 years and about 10,000 runs and 33 centuries in his name in his 16 year career as a Test cricketer. Captaining in 40 Tests which includes winning the World Test Championship in 2021. He was part of the ‘Fab Four’ in Test cricket along with Joe Root, Steve Smith and Virat Kohli. No fights and no challenges in the team. Yet suddenly he felt that the team needed a new approach to prepare for the future. Didn’t even have the patience to let the series end.

MS Dhoni (India): There was no challenge for Dhoni in Team India at that time and the cricket board also had full support. He retired from Test cricket midway through the series, following the third Test against Australia in Melbourne on 30 December 2014. At that time, they were playing in all three formats and it was believed that due to the stress, they moved away from the Test format. Virat Kohli captained the last Test in Sydney. At that time, the title of India’s most successful Test captain was in his name. A total of 90 Tests in which he scored 4876 runs and 294 victims as a wicketkeeper. This retirement surprised everyone and it was believed that he could have postponed his Test retirement by a year or more.

Ravichandran Ashwin (India): During the series in Australia in December 2024, he announced his shocking retirement from international cricket. Then the last two matches were left in the series. He did not speak but it was clear that he was angry at not getting full opportunities to play, especially not being included in the Test playing eleven outside India. Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja were being promoted more in the team. He was 38 years old then but was fit. Washington Sundar played in the first test of the series, Ashwin played in the second and Ravindra Jadeja played in the third and it became very heavy for Ashwin to realize that he was not the team’s first choice for spin. He took 537 wickets and scored 6 centuries in 106 tests, hence he is also considered an all-rounder.

Graeme Swann (England): The off-spinner simultaneously retired from international and first-class cricket midway through the 2013 Ashes series in Australia. Then the last two tests of the Ashes tour were left. He was 34 years old and had a record of 255 wickets in 60 Tests at an average of 29.96. England’s defeat in the first three Tests in that Australia tour weighed heavily on him. Taking only 7 wickets at an average of 80, he believed that his bowling was also responsible for the consecutive Test defeats. He felt that it would be wrong to be selfish and play in the remaining two Tests. Swann made his Test debut at the age of 29 and since then had not played in only 6 of England’s 66 Test matches.

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Shahid Afridi (Pakistan): Although Afridi was famous for his retirement and then U-turn in international cricket, his most talked about retirement decision was in the middle of the series during the England Test tour in July 2010. He was the Test captain for the series but immediately stepped down from the captaincy after the 150-run defeat to Australia at Lord’s and retired from Test cricket. Clearly said that he lacks the right temperament for this format. It is also written in many reports of that Lord’s that he had given the decision of retirement in the middle of the test, after the test. The interesting thing is that he was hesitant in playing Test for the last few years and this was his first Test in four years. Said clearly, ‘It would be better if someone young comes in my place, maybe a real batsman or a real bowler.’ He did not take a U-turn on this decision of retiring from Test because he believed that he did not have the right temperament to play Test.