Do you think Sourav Ganguly was forced for an early retirement?

Before I start this answer,I would like to declare that no one,absolutely no one could force a player of the calibre of Sourav Ganguly to retire.

Even in his interviews later,talking about his retirement,he had said that every sportsperson has to stop at some point,and he felt that it was an ideal time for him to retire.

Now,as a fan,I’d like to answer whether his retirement at the age of 35 was early or not.

Short answer-

In ODIs- NO,his retirement was absolutely perfectly timed.

In tests- YES,his retirement was a tad too early.

Long answer-

Lets talk about ODIs first-

Ganguly took international retirement in 2008,but he was out of favour in ODIs since 2007.

Yes,he scored 1240 runs in 30 ODI innings in 2007,at an average of 44.3. But his S/R was a meagre 73. Infact,barring Ian Bell,no player had a S/R in the 70s,amongst those who finished amongst the top 10 ODI run-getters that year.

The game was revolutionizing,and the minimal S/R in ODIs in the 2007s was atleast 80.

In 2008,he lost his opener’s spot to Gautam Gambhir.

Lets see how Gambhir fared in 2008- 1119 runs in 27 innings,at an average of 47 and a S/R of 91!

So tell me,how could have Dada stayed in the team,when Gambhir was simply destroying the opposition?

This closed doors on Dada,as far as ODIs were concerned,and so his ODI retirement was absolutely justified.

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Now in tests-

Ganguly’s numbers in tests were simply mesmerizing in 2007. 1106 runs in 19 innings,at an average of 62 was simply 😍.

Infact,in 2008,he averaged 36,which was significantly higher than Rahul Dravid’s average of 31.

But criticisms were always flaring against Ganguly,simply for no reason. Some complained about his fitness- but the truth was that,Ganguly was looking extremely fit in 2008,and had improved his running between the wickets to a great extent.

It is really sad and surprising that Ganguly had saved and made the careers of many players during his captaincy,but no one stood by his side during his bad times.

I still strongly feel that Ganguly could have crossed atleast 10k test runs,if he could play till atleast 2012,like Dravid did.

Yes,his test retirement in 2008 was quite early.

Extremely heart-broken to hear about his heart attack. Wising DADA a speedy recovery. 😊

Which international cricketer retired at his prime?

 There are some crickets I think who retired at their prime

1. Kumar Sangakkara: He was in tremendous form in world cup 2015 scoring more than 500 runs in 7 matches with 4 consecutive centuries. I guess after his retirement srilankan cricket is yet not able to find his alter

2. Brendon McCullum: World Cup 2015 was surely one of the best for the kiwis and one of the reason was this destructive opener and captain who just changed the approach of the team and completely change how the world sees New-Zealand. He just retired after horrible loss in the finals but o guess he could have played for 2019 world cup. Not only this he is the guy who scored fastest test century in his last game.

3. Ab de Villiers: Well anybody who like cricket knows how the retirement of this player was put of the blue while he was not in the bad form. No one just couldn't believe him retiring and the reason is still not much clear of his retirement.

So, these are the cricketers I think retired at their peak.