Shahid Afridi and Kevin Pietersen (PHOTO: X)
Cricket has seen countless legends, but only a select few have taken the extraordinary step of coming out of retirement to return to the sport they once bid farewell to.
Whether driven by passion, national duty, unfinished business, or the sheer love of the game, these players shocked fans and critics alike with their unexpected comebacks. Their return often brought a renewed spark, reminding the world why they were icons in the first place.
Across formats and generations, several top cricketers have stepped back onto the field after calling time on their careers, proving that form may fade, but true class never does. From emotional returns to impactful second innings, their stories continue to inspire both young players and lifelong fans.
Here’s a look at the top ten cricketers who stunned the cricketing world with their comeback after retirement:
The unquestionable God of part-time comebacks, the legendary Pakistani all-rounder declared his retirement in Test cricket back in 2006, only to come back in the role of the skipper in 2010. The enraged batsman subsequently said that he would retire after the ODI cricket World Cup in 2011 because of an argument with coach Waqar Younis, but returned later in the year and participated in the following World Cup.
Kevin Pietersen is one of the best batsmen that England has ever had and was sidelined by ECB in 2012 and 2014 due to the disagreement he had with the team management. In 2011, South-African born KP made the announcement of his retirement in ODIs so that he can concentrate on Tests alone. However, a couple of months later Pietersen was back in to shorter formats only to lose his place in the squad after the conflicts. The right-hander with immense talent is the quickest to achieve 1000 and 2000 ODI runs in the English ranks.
The Pakistan Prime Minister has not been very popular among the Indian fans at the time, but it was the event of the second-best comeback in the history of the game. Imran Khan was a multi-skilled seam bowler in his time as a cricketer who retired in 1987 after the world cup. But he later returned dramatically to the national side after a call by the then president, Zia-Ul-Haq and took his nation to the only world cup glory to date in 1992, at the age of 39.
The very like the greatest captain of Pakistan, the finest batsman that the nation has can also tell of a retirement comeback story. However, his announcement was not permanent as it was the case with Imran. Only ten days after he made his call to call it a day he was invited to join the national side by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to play in the 1996 world cup campaign. He also ended his career prematurely being 39 as a player.
Taylor is the first Zimbabwean batsman to score successive centuries in ODI history, and the only difference is that initially, the captain was the watchful one, but it was only after the 2015 World Cup campaign that he made his decision: hang his boots. Taylor also joined a 2-year contract to Nottinghamshire County but was once again at the national fold in 2017 when his England contract ran out. He is also the 33-year-old who has made the most number of ODI centuries in Zimbabwe.
Tikolo is a legend of his country, with the last international match played in January 23, 2014 against the Netherlands. At 40 years, however, he participated in the 2011 world cup yet his team remained so reliant on him. The all-round was a pale imitation of what he was in the marvelrun in the homesoil in Kenya in 2003 and he found it difficult to keep up with the rigorous demands of international cricket. He announced his retirement after the tournament, but was subsequently made to play T20I and ODI in 2013, which is at the age of 42!
This is the first man to ever bat 5,000 runs, take 100 wickets, make 100 catches and 100 caps in ODIs and Tests. And how many did that as his successor? Nothing but the mythical Jacques Kallis. In the year 1999, Hooper announced that he would retire in international cricket only three weeks before the World Cup but he returned the willow in 2001. He started as the captain of the Caribbeans in the 2003 World Cup and concluded his career and allowed young talents to take his position.
The Indian cricketer who has retired at 33 has written to the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) just two months after drawing curtains to his cricketing career, claiming his retirement was an emotional one and that he is open to selection. At the time of the World Cup in England, Rayudu had also announced retirement when he was not selected to hold the place of the injured Shikhar Dhawan, even when he was among five stand-bys to attend the quadrennial game.
Similar moves were also surprised by England all-rounder Ben Stokes. In 2022, he stated that he was retiring in ODIs because of the difficulty of balancing international cricket. Nevertheless, he was too tempted to experience the World Cup once more and went back to India in 2023 to play on behalf of England. In the future, he declared his retirement in the 50-over format. Stokes is however, still active in Test cricket and was last seen in action during the India-England series in July 2025.
Moeen Ali, another England star, has also made several U-turns in his career as far as retirement is concerned. First, in 2021, he took a break in Test cricket, and he said that he could not get in the zone and that he was not connected with red-ball cricket.
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