The year of 2024 ended for Indian cricket fans with a bittersweet taste as during the India vs Australia Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024, Ravichandran Ashwin announced his International retirement. It came as a shock for all as everyone considered that Ashwin will play his farewell Test match at home in Chennai in front of the home fans. In place of that, Ashwin's last match came with the pink ball at Adelaide during the second Test match of the series. Although Ashwin waited and announced his retirement after the Brisbane Test. It marked the end of an era and at the same also indicated that the a group of players are entering the last phase of their career and might announcement retirement anytime soon in 2025. Indian Men’s Cricket Team Schedule in 2025: Upcoming Team India Matches Including IND vs PAK in ICC Champions Trophy, Asia Cup and Other Full Fixtures With Venues.

Star cricketers Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja have already announced their retirements from T20Is after winning the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. They only play in the remaining two longer formats and will surely feature in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Following it, their future is uncertain. A bunch of cricketers who started their career around 2007-08 are nearing the end of the careers and 2025 can be a year of retirements as the entire batch can decide to hang up their boots. In this article, we will take a look at five cricketers who might retire from International cricket soon.

Rohit Sharma

After winning the ICC T20I World Cup 2024 and Test series against Bangladesh and England, Rohit Sharma was looking to extend his Test career for another WTC cycle and possibly play another ODI world Cup. But his form dipped terribly from the New Zealand series at home and during the series in Australia, he has been horrible form and it does look like he has completely lost the touch. At the age of 37, it is difficult to get the same motivation and have the same work ethic as youngsters to work on deminishing prowess like reaction time and technique. Hence, Rohit Sharma might be the first of the veterans of Team India to announce retirement from Test cricket and eventually ODI cricket in 2025.

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli has not been the best version of himself since 2020. Despite him finding patches of form. The incredible consistency he used to enjoy is now gone and so has the dominance over the bowlers. He has looked vulnerable in terms of technique, specially against the ball outside the offstump. Even in limited over format, he has been vulnerable against spin and struggled to score runs or looked extremely laborious while doing so. With pressure increasing on him, Kohli might also have to consider retirement from Test cricket in 2025. With the ODI World Cup still two years away, he might also have to consider ODI retirement after the Champions Trophy 2025.

Cheteshwar Pujara

Once called the new wall of Team India, former Indian Test number three was recently spotted in the commentary box for the India vs Australia Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Indian Cricket Team has moved ahead of Cheteshwar Pujara since the World Test Championship final in 2023. Pujara has been one of India's Test cricket stalwarts and played big role in India winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2018-19 and 20-21. He has been playing County Cricket and scoring runs there but if BCCI further makes it clear that he is not in their plans, Pujara can be a prime candidate to announce his International retirement in 025.

Ravindra Jadeja

Ravichandran Ashwin's partner in crime, Ravindra Jadeja has been a reliable piece for Team India over the years. His all-round ability and athleticism has won them games from tough position multiple times. But just like Ashwin, Jadeja has not been effective with the ball in the New Zealand series. He has failed to make much impact with the ball in the Australia series too. With Axar Patel continuously competing hard for the position, Jadeja might have to consider a decision like Ashwin anytime soon as the team is going through a transition.  List Of All Major International Cricket Tournaments In 2025 Including ICC Champions Trophy, ICC WTC Final, and ICC Women's World Cup.

Ajinkya Rahane

Ajinkya Rahane was the captain of Team India when they won a Test series in Australia last time. Rahane played till the West Indies series in 2023 after his good performance in the World Test Championship final and the IPL 2023. But soon India made it clear that they are moving ahead from Rahane too who failed to scored runs for a long while. Rahane has not been in form in Ranji Trophy too, although he has been impressing in the limited overs domestic tournaments. There has been rumours Rahane might get the captaincy of an IPL franchise. If it doesn't work, then he is one more candidate who might have to announce International retirement in 2025.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 31, 2024 07:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).