When is the right time for a cricketer to retire?

Rahul Dravid has been bowled in five of six innings in Australia

This question is quite topical at the moment in both the Australian and Indian cricket teams. Both of these teams have champion players that have contributed to most of their team’s success over the past decade and are in the twilight of their careers. There is a school of thought that would suggests that a cricketer should be able to declare their innings (i.e. retire) at a point of their own choosing based on what they have contributed to the game. However this notion should always depend on form and is especially the case in Test cricket.

Test cricket is played over five days and players need to be able to compete at a high level over that time. Every player is representing their country and I’ll often compare Test Cricket to siege warfare given the tactics required and the length of time involved to play the game. (In fact all international sport could be considered warfare without the bullets). Therefore it is very important that the 12 players representing your country are performing at the absolute best of their abilities.

For Australia, Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey have been outstanding players of their craft and both have recently gone through a rough period with the bat. Both these players (along with Michael Clarke) scored centuries at the SCG against India but fell short in Perth. Although it must be noted that Perth is a cricket pitch that you never feel completely “in” on and that the first 20 is often the toughest 20 to make. So then does the Adelaide test become a form indication for these two players? With the West Indies tour coming up in April, I would suggest that these two need to make runs in Adelaide to prove their worth. The Ashes are only 18 months away and sending young prospects to the West Indies is ideal preparation (followed by an Australian Summer) for an Ashes tour that will be tough.

Another player under scrutiny is Brad Haddin, who appears to be out of form with the bat and is losing some touch with the gloves. Haddin is a confidence player that plays streakily when batting, but some of Haddin’s shot selections have been puzzling to say the least and given his glove work has dropped questions must be asked about his position in the side. Possible replacements are Tim Paine and Matthew Wade, Paine is injured at the moment and Adelaide does present the perfect opportunity for the selectors to try out Wade to see if he is at Test standard.

For India, who has had an abysmal Australian tour to say the least, there are probably five players that are in the firing line: Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag and Dhoni. Out of these five players only Tendulkar (38 years old) looks like a batsman in reasonable form. Dravid (39) is out of sorts and his reactions may have slowed just a touch as he has been bowled in five out of his six innings in Australia. Laxman (37) is not moving his feet at the crease, is playing sub-continental shots and is either being bowled of getting caught behind the wicket. Sehwag (33) and Dhoni (30) are simply not taking the time to get themselves “in” (which is a must as a batsman) and have not contributed much to India’s cause over the summer.

In India’s case there are almost 50,000 test runs of experience under scrutiny. With such a generational change the challenge for India is how to manage the player movement. Do they drop players that are out of form in full knowledge that they may never return, thereby promoting youth? Do they stick with these players and hope for one last hurrah from them? It is a difficult choice for the BCCI as the first probably means that results may not go India’s way, but this may be cushioned with India playing their next few series at home. The latter enables the players to leave on their terms, would keep the Indian fans happy and probably generate more revenue for the BCCI (although that is probably not too big an issue).

The motivating factor for retention of any player should always be form, after all the objective is to win the test match. To paraphrase an Ian Chappell quote “A country should pick its best 11 players and then pick its captain”. Considering this statement are all of the Indian players mentioned above currently within India’s best eleven on form. At this stage I would suggest that Dravid, Laxman and Sehwag are probably not and their positions within the team should be heavily scrutinised before the Adelaide Test. As for the Australians, Ponting and Hussey are probably in the best eleven for now but need to be making runs consistently to justify their selection in the team and should be treated no different to all of the other players in the side.

Although most cricketers (and other sports professionals) would like to dictate when they retire, form should always play its part and selectors should have courage to advise a player that his form may not warrant further selection in a team. Most players will know in themselves when it is time, but having the courage to act on their instincts and put the team first is difficult. India and Australia face tough decisions in the near future and it will be interesting to see if either or both nations are able to make those decisions effectively.