Hot commodity: Samson, who delivered a masterpiece at the ICC T20 World Cup and won the Lead Actor honours, is primed to extend his purple patch in Chennai’s Yellow.
| Photo Credit: CSK

Rohit Sharma

On May 8, 2025, Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from Tests through an Instagram story. At 38, and after a poor tour of Australia (31 from five innings) during which he dropped himself from the final Test in Sydney, the writing seemed on the wall. Sharma played 67 Tests scoring 4,301 runs at an average of 40.6 with 12 hundred and 18 half-centuries. His highest score in Tests was 212.

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli.
| Photo Credit:
AP

On May 12, 2025, Virat Kohli followed suit to bring an end to a decorated Test career. After scoring a hundred in Perth in the first Test versus Australia, Kohli endured a torrid time. He eventually finished on 123 Tests, scoring 9,230 runs with an average of 46.9. He made 30 hundreds and 31 half-centuries, with the unbeaten 254 his highest. With 40 wins, he is statistically India’s best captain.

Sergio Busquets

Sergio Busquets.
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images

On December 7, 2025, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba played the final matches of their professional careers in Inter Miami’s 3-1 victory over Vancouver Whitecaps at the Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale. Busquets was one of the best defensive midfielders of his generation, and formed that famed trio at Barcelona with Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez behind the leader in Lionel Messi.

Chesteshwar Pujara

Cheteshwar Pujara
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu

On August 24, 2025, Cheteshwar Pujara, one of the foremost Test specialists in the 21st century, retired from all forms of cricket. As No. 3, he held the Indian batting line-up together and played stellar roles in India’s twin triumphs in Australia, in 2018-19 and 2020-21. From 103 Tests, he made 7,195 runs with 19 centuries and 35 fifties.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce.
| Photo Credit:
Emmanual Yogini

Champion Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce retired from competitive sport in October. Gold medallist in women’s 100m at 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics, Fraser-Pryce finished her career with eight Olympic medals and 17 World Championship medals.

Petra Kvitova

Peter Kvitova.
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images

On August 25, 2025, two-time Wimbledon women’s singles winner Petra Kvitova retired after the U.S. Open. The star from Czechia triumphed at the All England club in 2011 and 2014, reached as high as No. 2 in the world and was part of her nation’s golden generation that won the Fed Cup (now Billie Jean King Cup) six times from 2011 to 2018. In late 2016, Kvitova even survived a knife attack and reached the final of the Australian Open in 2019.

Eliud Kipchoge

Eliud Kipchoge.
| Photo Credit:
AP

Eliud Kipchoge, the double Olympic marathon champion (2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo), retired after the New York Marathon in November. The Kenyan won 16 of the 23 competitive marathons he ran, with 11 coming at the marathon majors, making him the most decorated athlete, male or female. Kipchoge held the men’s marathon world record twice, and was even part of Nike’s Breaking2 project in 2017, the audacious attempt to break the two-hour barrier.

Rohan Bopanna

Rohan Bopanna
| Photo Credit:
PTI

On November 1, 2025, India’s doubles star Rohan Bopanna rested his racquet at the end of the 2025 tennis season. At the 2024 Australian Open which he won alongside Matthew Ebden, Bopanna, at 43, became the oldest man to occupy the World No. 1 position and also the oldest men’s Slam winner. He finished his career with two Majors, having won the 2017 French Open mixed doubles crown with Gabriela Dabrowski. He is only one of four Indians to have won Majors, with Mahesh Bhupathi, Leander Paes and Sania Mirza the others.

Nicholas Pooran

Nicholas Pooran
| Photo Credit:
Reuters

Nicholas Pooran, West Indies’ Twenty20 record-holder for runs and appearances, retired from international cricket on June 10, 2025. Pooran, 29, made the announcement on Instagram. “Wearing that maroon, standing for the anthem, and giving everything I had each time I stepped on the field… it’s hard to put into words what that truly means to me,” he wrote. “To have led the team as captain is a privilege I will always hold close to my heart.”

Published – January 01, 2026 09:50 am IST

Rohit Sharma was elected as the captain of the ICC T20I Team of the Year for 2024, after leading India to a second T20 World Cup title in the year. Despite poor form in Test cricket, Rohit won his first piece of ICC silverware as India captain, finishing as the second-highest run-scorer of the tournament as well. Three other Indians featured in the ICC XI, in the form of pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh and all-rounder Hardik Pandya. Bumrah was adjudged the Player of the Tournament of the T20 World Cup 2024.

Travis Head was selected to open alongside Rohit Sharma, while Phil Salt was also included in the XI, as the No. 3 batter.

Head amassed 255 runs in seven games at the T20 World Cup, finishing as the third-highest run-scorer. The Australian had a superb 2024, and also made his mark in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Phil Salt hit three T20I centuries in 2024, and found a spot in the ICC XI.

Nicholas Pooran was the highest run-scorer across T20s in 2024, amassing over 2,000 runs, and was chosen as the wicket-keeper in the XI. Pakistan stalwart Babar Azam also found a spot, having scored 738 runs in 23 innings, despite not having the best T20 World Cup.

Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza, India’s Hardik Pandya and Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan were selected as the all-rounders in the team. Pandya was arguably the best all-rounder in the T20 World Cup, while Rashid led Afghanistan to a historic first semi-final.

Bumrah had a phenomenal T20 World Cup 2024, picking up 15 wickets, while Arshdeep was the leading wicket-taker of the tournament with 17. The latter picked up 36 wickets in 18 games in 2024.

Alongside Rashid Khan, Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga was selected as the other spinner in the ICC T20I Team of the Year.

ICC T20I Team of the Year 2024: Rohit Sharma (c), Travis Head, Phil Salt, Babar Azam, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Sikandar Raza, Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh.

Lucknow Super Giants’ brand new skipper Rishabh Pant spilt beans about the close bond he shares with Nicholas Pooran and their destructive middle order ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season. Pant and Pooran have shared a bond off the field, which grew deeper when the Indian southpaw was on the road to recovery. When a life-threatening accident in December 2022 left Pant incapable of playing, Pooran used to keep a check on the explosive batter’s recovery. The 27-year-old will now share the same dressing room with his West Indies counterpart for the upcoming season of the IPL.

“Pooran is my close friend, have a very old relationship with him. During my injury, we used to talk, and he used to ask if I was doing fine or not. That relationship is always there,” Pant said on Star Sports.

With Pooran and Pant in the mix, LSG has bagged a couple of renowned hard hitters for the latest edition of the cash-rich league.

Considering the number of run-scoring spectacles Sunrisers Hyderabad, LSG appears to be the franchise on paper that will continue with the trend of high-scoring affairs.

Pant, Pooran and David Miller appear as promising prospects in the middle order who can decimate even the famed bowling attacks on any given day.

“Miller has been phenomenal with the kind of experience he has had during the last five years, it is amazing, finishing the game. If you have all three of them, phir to definitely tabaahi hai. Hamari team mein saare tabahi player hai bhai (In our team, all players are destructive),” Pant added.

In the last edition of the IPL, Pant marked his return to competitive cricket and garnered 446 runs in 13 matches, averaging 40.55. With his compelling performances, he earned a spot in India’s T20 World Cup squad and lifted the title against Miller’s South Africa.

Pooran was the prime force for Lucknow with the bat in the last edition. He inflicted carnage and amassed a whopping 499 runs at a staggering average of 62.38 while striking at 178.21.

Miller, who represented Gujarat Titans last season, made nine appearances for the franchise. He added 210 runs to his name while averaging at 35.00 with an impressive strike rate of 151.08.

LSG is likely to announce its new captain in Kolkata on January 20.© BCCI

After three consecutive ODI defeats, Bangladesh finally returned to winning ways with a narrow 7-run victory over the West Indies in the 1st T20I at Arnos Vale Ground. The West Indies managed to make it out a nail-biting affair, courtesy of skipper Rovman Powell’s blitzkrieg, But in reality, the hosts never really recovered from the damage caused by Mahedi Hasan in the powerplay. While chasing a modest 148-run total, the Caribbean side faced problems as Mahedi made early inroads through their batting lineup.

The West Indies had already lost Brandon King before Mahedi was introduced to bowl in the powerplay. In his second delivery of the match, Mahedi caught the big fish, Nicholas Pooran. He invited him to step out of the crease to have a go at him. Pooran shimmered down the crease, went for a swing and missed the ball, which held a straight trajectory. The explosive batter was well short of the crease as Litton gathered the ball and dislodged the bails in a jiffy.

West Indies found reprieve in the next over with Johnson Charles going berserk against Tanzim Hasan Sakib. He tonked two sixes and followed it up with a crisp four to accumulate 25 runs from the over.

But the impending end from Mahedi ended Charles’ deal with the boundaries. The opener took the aerial route, but the desired elevation was something that was missed dearly. The ball landed in Hasan Mahmud’s hands at mid-off.

With the West Indies tottering at run-a-ball 36 and three wickets down after the first six overs, Mahedi dealt a massive blow to make their chase a lost cause.

He delivered a match-defining over to remove Andre Fletcher for a four-ball duck and then Roston Chase for 7(13). With the West Indies looking down and out at 39/5, Powell knew his side needed something special from him.

Powell kept the hopes alive with Romario Shepherd playing the second fiddle to his skipper. The duo paced their knocks according to the situation and brought down the equation to 20 needed in 18 balls.

With victory once again in sight, Bangladesh pacers held their nerves to see off the game. Taskin Ahmed removed Shepherd (22), but Powell’s threat continued to loom in the atmosphere.

In the final over, Hasan Mahmud had 10 runs to defend while facing Powell. Mahmud bowled it wide, and Powell went for a flashy drive. He only found an outside edge, which was taken by the wicketkeeper. Mahmud castled Alzarri Joseph to seal a 7-run victory for Bangladesh.

Earlier in the match, after being put to bat by the hosts, Bangladesh needed moments of individual brilliance to find their way to 147/6. Soumya Sarkar played a blistering knock of 43(32), while Jaker Ali (27), Mahedi (26*) and Shamim Hossain (27) made invaluable contributions towards the end, which took the visitors to a fighting total.

Sanjiv Goenka, the owner of IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), said the team’s new captain has been decided and will be announced in the next few days ahead of the IPL 2025 season. LSG had been led by KL Rahul in IPL 2022-24 cycle, with Krunal Pandya captaining the team when the batter was ruled out from the later half of IPL 2023. But the franchise chose not to retain the duo ahead of the mega auction, which happened in Jeddah last month.

With Rahul now in the Delhi Capitals and Krunal in Royal Challengers Bengaluru, LSG have leadership options in previous Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant, current Australia and South Africa T20I skippers Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram, as well as West Indies’ keeper-batter Nicholas Pooran, who led the national side previously.

“People get surprised easily. I don’t think you get surprised easily. It’s been decided. But we will announce in the next few days. We have four leaders in our team – Rishabh, Pooran, Markram, and Mitch Marsh.”

“So, it becomes a very strong leadership pool of intellect, though,t and strategy. They are all people who can go for the mindset to win. Rishabh has that hunger, and passion that he wants to win, and do something and show it. So, the team is good and we are happy,” said Goenka in a video on former India opener Aakash Chopra’s YouTube channel on Monday.

LSG had retained Pooran for Rs 21 crore, alongside Mayank Yadav and Ravi Bishnoi (Rs 11 crore each) as well as the uncapped duo of Ayush Badoni and Mohsin Khan for Rs 4 crore each. In the mega auction, they roped in Pant for Rs 27 crore, making him the most expensive signing ever in the IPL.

“Our internal feeling is that our auction was very good. Our focus was that our middle order and finishing should be very strong. So, that number three to eight are very strong. Another thing we wanted was to go with an Indian pace attack, instead of international pace, and we went with explosive international batters. So, now we have got a combination of the two,” added Goenka.

He signed off by saying whoever opens the batting between Markram, Marsh and Pant will be decided by the new skipper, coach Justin Langer and mentor Zaheer Khan. “We decided that we had to make our middle order strong and have an Indian core. However, auctions don’t go exactly the way you plan it. We made a very big go for Jos Buttler but we fell one or two bid amounts short. Zak (Zaheer Khan), JL (Justin Langer), and the captain will decide it.”

“Those are calls that frankly are beyond my capability and competence. Zak has a thought process and I think he has already spoken to the captain a couple of times, and I think Zak, Langer and the captain will be meeting soon together, and all three of them will have a conversation and they will take a call. Whatever their call is, I will support it 100 per cent.”

Rishabh Pant joined Lucknow Super Giants for IPL 2025© AFP

LSG Full Squad, IPL 2025: LSG roped in pacer Akash Deep for Rs 8 crore on Day 2 of the IPL 2025 Mega Auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. On Day 1, LSG made the biggest purchase of the IPL 2025 mega auction, as they broke the bank for Rishabh Pant, setting an IPL record price of Rs 27 crore. They also roped in the likes of David Miller and Avesh Khan for good money, and head into Day 2 with a strong squad. Owner Sanjiv Goenka spoke about the need to fill a gap or two after Day 1 of the auction, and LSG will have an auction purse of Rs 14.85 cr at the start of Day 2 to make those moves. (Full Squad)

Full list of players bought at auction:

1. Rishabh Pant – Rs 27 crore

2. Aiden Markram – Rs 2 crore

3. David Miller – Rs 7.5 crore

4. Mitchell Marsh – Rs 3.4 crore

5. Avesh Khan – Rs 9.75 crore

6. Abdul Samad – Rs 4.2 crore

7. Aryan Juyal – Rs 30 lakh

8. Akash Deep – Rs 8 crore

9. Himmat Singh – Rs 30 lakh

10. M Siddharth – Rs 75 lakh

11. Digvesh Singh – Rs 35 lakh

12. Shahbaz Ahmed – Rs 2.4 crore

13. Akash Singh – Rs 30 lakh

14. Shamar Joseph – Rs 75 lakh

15. Prince Yadav – Rs 30 lakh

16. Yuvraj Chaudhary – Rs 30 lakh

17. Rajvardhan Hangargekar – Rs 30 lakh

18. Arshin Kulkarni – Rs 30 lakh

19. Matthew Breetzke – Rs 75 lakh

Full list of retained players: Nicholas Pooran, Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni

Full list of released players: KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Quinton de Kock, Ashton Turner, Deepak Hooda, Krishnappa Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Mohd. Arshad Khan, Prerak Mankad, Yudhvir Singh, Arshin Kulkarni, David Willey, Shivam Mavi, Shamar Joseph, Matt Henry, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Naveen ul Haq, M Siddharth

LSG Full Squad, IPL 2025: Rishabh Pant on Sunday etched his name in history books, becoming the most expensive buy ever in the history of the IPL auction. Pant was bought by Rs LSG for a shattering sum of Rs 27 crore. LSG were in a bidding war with RCB and DC, who had released the player ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. DC tried to use RTM on Pant when LSG had the bid on Rs 20.75 crore. However, LSG made a final counter bid of Rs 27 crore, which DC couldn’t match. As a result, Pant became the most expensive player, surpassing PBKS’ bid of Rs 26.75 crore for Shreyas Iyer earlier in the same auction. (Full Squad)

LSG also bolstered their squad by the notable signings of Aiden Markram, David Miller, Mitchell Marsh and Avesh Khan.

Full list of players bought at auction:

1. Rishabh Pant – Rs 27 crore

2. Aiden Markram – Rs 2 crore

3. David Miller – Rs 7.5 crore

4. Mitchell Marsh – Rs 3.4 crore

5. Avesh Khan – Rs 9.75 crore

6. Abdul Samad – Rs 4.2 crore

7. Aryan Juyal – Rs 30 lakh

Full list of retained players: Nicholas Pooran, Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni

Full list of released players: KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Quinton de Kock, Ashton Turner, Deepak Hooda, Krishnappa Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Mohd. Arshad Khan, Prerak Mankad, Yudhvir Singh, Arshin Kulkarni, David Willey, Shivam Mavi, Shamar Joseph, Matt Henry, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Naveen ul Haq, M Siddharth