In 2024, more than two dozen international cricketers announced their retirement, either entirely or from specific formats. Among them, Indian legends Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli stepped away from T20Is after guiding India to victory in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Later in the year, another iconic Indian cricketer, Ravichandran Ashwin, bid farewell to international cricket.
Veteran openers David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan also retired from all formats. Other major names who brought their international careers to an end in 2024 included James Anderson, Shakib Al Hasan, and Tim Southee.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim announced their international retirements for the second time. Wicketkeepers Wriddhiman Saha and Matthew Wade were also among those who decided to step away from top-level cricket.
1. Rishi Dhawan (White-ball)
Pace-bowling all-rounder Rishi Dhawan was the first cricketer to officially retire from Indian limited-overs cricket in the year 2025. The 34-year-old played three ODIs and one T20I for India, all in 2016, picking up only two wickets. The Himachal Pradesh cricketer played 134 List-A and 135 T20 matches from 2007 to January 2025. Rishi captained Himachal to their maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy trophy in 2021-22.
He played 39 matches for two teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL) – Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings – from 2013 to 2024. In the IPL, Dhawan took 25 wickets and scored 210 runs. He was part of the MI team that won the IPL 2013.
He will continue to play First-Class cricket.
2. Martin Guptill (All formats)
Former New Zealand opener Martin Guptill officially announced his retirement from international cricket on January 8, 2025.
Guptill made his New Zealand debut in 2009 and played his last international match in October 2022. Guptill played 198 ODIs, 122 T20Is and 47 tests. He finished as New Zealand’s highest T20I scorer with 3531 runs and third-highest ODI scorer with 7346 runs. He notched up 23 international centuries.
Guptill holds the record of hitting New Zealand’s only men’s ODI double century for his 237* against West Indies in the quarter-final of the 2015 World Cup.
3. Varun Aaron (All formats)
Jharkhand fast bowler Varun Aaron retired from representative cricket on January 10, 2025. The 35-year-old featured in nine ODIs and nine tests for India between 2011 and 2015, and took 29 wickets at an average of 47.10.
Injuries hurt Aaron’s career significantly. Around 2011, he was the quickest bowler in the country, clocking speeds of over 150 KPH. He made his domestic debut in 2008. Aaron played in 66 First-Class (FC) matches, 88 List-A games, and 95 T20s to claim over 400 wickets.
Aaron played in nine IPL seasons from 2011 to 2022 for Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Titans. He won the IPL 2022 title with Gujarat Titans.
4. Tamim Iqbal (All formats)
He played 70 tests, 243 ODIs, and 78 T20Is since making his international debut in 2007 and was one of the pillars of the Bangladesh team in the 2010s. He amassed a total of 15249 runs in international cricket, the second-most by a Bangladeshi batsman.
5. Shapoor Zadran (All formats)
Tall left-arm Afghanistan fast bowler Shapoor Zadran, whose last international match was in March 2020, announced his international retirement on January 31, 2025.
Shapoor is famous for playing a key role with both bat and ball during Afghanistan’s win over Scotland in the 2015 World Cup, Afghanistan’s maiden win in an ODI World Cup.
Overall, Zadram featured in 44 ODIs and 36 T20Is, picking up 80 wickets in total.
6. Wriddhiman Saha (All formats)
Last year, India wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha had confirmed that the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 would be his last cricket tournament at the top level and he would retire from all forms of the game at the end of it.
Saha and Bengal’s journey in the Ranji Trophy came to an end on February 1. With that, his career to a conclusion. He made his domestic debut in 2007 and India debut in 2010 in ODIs and test cricket.
He managed only 40 tests in his career of 11 years as he was the backup for MS Dhoni and Rishabh Pant for the majority of his career. Saha scored 1353 runs at an average of 29, with three centuries to his name. He earned the recognition as being one of the best wicket-keepers in the world.
Saha played 142 first-class matches and over 300 white-ball games.
7. Marcus Stoinis (ODIs)
Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis announced his retirement from ODI cricket on February 6th, 2025. Stoinis made his ODI debut in 2015 and played 71 matches in the format. He scored 1495 runs at a strike rate of 93 with one century and six fifties, and took 48 wickets.
He was part of Australia’s 2023 World Cup-winning team. His highest ODI score of 146* came against New Zealand in 2017 in Auckland.