3 Big Players Who Can Retire From Test Cricket In 2025

With the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 over, the next final is almost two years away, and some of the greats of the game might not last that long and are considering retiring ahead of the next summit clash. However, there could be a few who might hang up their boots by the end of 2025 itself. 

Here are three big players who might call it quits in the red-ball format by the end of 2025. 

Ravindra Jadeja (India)

Having seen the retirements of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and R Ashwin in front of him, Ravindra Jadeja remains the lone Indian in the Test set-up to have debuted before 2013 and still be playing the red-ball format internationally. 

The left-arm spinner will turn 37 in December 2025, and hence seeing him play after that would be very hard, unless he is at the peak of his form and bowling the opposition out. 

Jadeja, if he is seeking to play 100 Tests, would have to not only play 18 Tests in this two-year cycle but also play the final and then wait for one more Test in the 2027-29 cycle. Considering how quickly the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is moving from one player to another, only match-winning performances from Jadeja could keep him going. 

Otherwise, he will have the perfect set-up to say goodbye to Tests at the end of the two-match home series against South Africa.  

With 323 wickets and 3370 runs to his kitty, the Saurashtra-born is already a legend of the game, entering a list where only 11 players have that combination in the entire history of Test cricket.

Steve Smith (Australia)

Steve Smith has played more than 100 Tests, has more than 10,000 Test runs and won the World Test Championship as well. Nothing remains to be achieved by Smith, and therefore, the 2025 Ashes could be the right time for the 36-year-old to say goodbye to that format and try to play more white-ball cricket across the leagues.

Smith averages 56.55 with the bat, and he would look to improve that in the Ashes and the matches leading up to that.

Kemar Roach (West Indies)

Kemar Roach, a loyal servant of Test cricket in the West Indies, was sidelined for the home series against Australia scheduled to be played in June-July 2025. He has so far played 85 Tests and taken 284 wickets. 

But of late, he has not been that vicious, taking 134 wickets in 44 first-class matches between 2022 and 2025 so far. However, in the five-year period before 2022, Roach was at his best, picking up 192 wickets in 50 first-class games at an average of 20.

Thus, with international cricket eluding him, Roach, who will turn 37 on June 30, might think of other options than Tests to remain in touch with the sport.