Follow UsOne of Team India’s greatest ever servants called it a day on August 24 (Sunday) as Cheteshwar Pujara announced his retirement from all forms of Indian cricket, bringing to an end a truly legendary career.
Pujara’s retirement was in no way surprising, considering he’d last played for the country back in 2023, but it still hit hard given his incredible contribution to the side. At his peak, Pujara was one of the best batters in the world, and he enabled India’s dominance in red-ball cricket for an extended period.
Kohli, Rohit, Ashwin and Pujara are all retired, but more names could follow suit in the coming months.
At 37 years of age, Ajinkya Rahane is not getting any younger. And he, much like Pujara, has not played for India since 2023, with his last contribution coming in the West Indies away series that happened post the 2023 WTC Final.
Rahane has always been someone who’s never said never, but team India have already embarked on a new era in Test cricket, and the batting is more stacked than it has ever been. India’s batting stocks are so deep that someone like Washington Sundar, despite being a generational talent, is unable to bat in the Top 6 regularly because of how packed it is.
Even if Rahane has a stellar domestic season in 2025/26, the selectors might look at a recall as a step backwards. Thus, a retirement announcement might not be far away.
If age is the deciding factor in Rahane’s case, for Mohammed Shami, it’s both age and fitness. Shami will turn 35 next month, but the bigger concern is his fitness, with there being a huge question mark on his ability to bowl for sustained periods of time.
Shami played the 2025 Champions Trophy, but even there, he had to be managed carefully, with him often exiting the field in between overs. He looked far from fit in IPL 2025 and was so poor that he was dropped mid-way through the competition by Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Should Shami not get picked for the upcoming home season, it might be curtains for him. And that could ultimately force him to call it quits from at least Test cricket.
2021 was the last time Ishant Sharma made an appearance for India in Test cricket - or any format for that matter - but the veteran is still an active player. And believe it or not, Ishant is younger than both Pujara and Rahane.
However, Ishant not announcing any retirement (even international) so far feels like him delaying the inevitable, considering there’s absolutely no way back into the Indian team for him in any format. That being said, it’s admirable that he’s still slogging it out in the domestic circuit, even impressing in patches in the Indian Premier League.
But 2025 could just be the year where Ishant, who has taken 311 Test wickets, finally calls it a day.