2024 was replete with ups and downs for people who love Indian cricket. India didn't win the ICC ODI World Cup 2023, but they finally got their hands on the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 trophy, with Rohit Sharma steering the team. This year, three iconic T20 players stopped playing, and more than seven Indian players stopped playing for their country at the international level.

Let's dive into who these players are.

1. Saurabh Tiwary (Retired from all formats)

Saurabh Tiwary, the man who swung his bat with his left hand and even scored 49 runs in three matches for India's ODI team in 2010, decided he had enough of professional cricket right after the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy season wrapped up in February 2024. Tiwary made this choice because his performance wasn't to par at the local level anymore Tiwary, who had been part of the cricket world for 17 years materializing on the scene notably with Jharkhand in first-class cricket and remaining in the IPL till 2021 announced in 2024 that his cricket-playing days were over. That person who played for India in a few games said he is finished with playing professional cricket after being on the fields for nearly two decades.

2. Varun Aaron (Retired from all formats)

Varun Aaron from Jharkhand was very quick at bowling with his right arm. Aaron said goodbye to cricket at the close of the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy season. People thought he was going to be great because he was very quick but he was often injured. Aaron managed to play in nine tests and nine ODIs for India between 2011 and 2015, and during that time, he took 29 wickets when playing against other countries.

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3. Dinesh Karthik (Retired from all formats)

Dinesh Karthik retired from all forms of cricket international, domestic, and even the IPL after the IPL 2024 wrapped up. Karthik put an end to his impressive career. Starting way back in September 2004 playing for India, 2022 saw his last game during the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia. Through it all, Karthik played in 26 Tests, 94 ODIs, and 60 T20 games.Karthik did not simply play he scored a total of 3,463 runs that includes a century and 17 half-centuries.

4. Kedar Jadhav (Retired from all formats)

Kedar June 2024, Kedar Jadhav said he's retiring from all kinds of cricket; this person, who was 39, played several games for India - 73 ODIs and 9 T20Is to be exact. Jadhav was a solid player in the middle of the lineup who could also add some good spin bowling to the mix, catching 27 wickets in ODIs with an average score of 42. On top of that, he demonstrated his skills in 95 IPL games for five different teams, performing well both when hitting the ball and when throwing the ball.

5.Virat Kohli (Retired from T20Is)

In his last game for India in the tournament against South Africa, Virat Kohli shared that he was retiring from T20Is. Virat Kohli made a very big announcement after India won the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 he was stepping down from T20I cricket. Starting his T20I journey in 2010 against Zimbabwe, Kohli had a great series of performances. Over his career, he participated in 125 T20Is, scoring 4,188 runs, which averages out to 48.69 this includes hitting one hundred and 38 half-centuries. Kohli is considered a legendary cricketer around the world.

6. Rohit Sharma (Retired from T20Is)

After taking India to win the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, Rohit Sharma said goodbye to T20Is. This includes an amazing five hundreds, 32 fifties, and an incredible 205 sixes, setting the record for the most in T20Is. Many achievements made him the premier run-maker in T20I history when he decided to stop playing.

7. Ravindra Jadeja (Retired from T20Is)

Ravindra Jadeja retired from T20I cricket post the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup, and he was an essential player for India for over ten years. Even though he wasn't the best in the tournament, his role playing both as a batter and a bowler was vitally important for India. Starting his journey in 2009, he participated in 74 T20Is, took 54 wickets with a decent economy rate of 7.13, and notched up 515 runs.

8. Shikhar Dhawan (Retired from all formats)

Shikhar Dhawan, a key player in India's win at the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, said goodbye to cricket in all forms, the IPL included, in August 2024. Dhawan was last seen playing for India in December 2022. Dhawan's journey in international cricket began in 2010 and wrapped up in 2022; throughout his career, he played in 34 Tests, 167 ODIs, and 68 T20Is.Dhawan scored a whopping 10,867 runs, with an average of 42.28. Also, he hit 24 hundreds and 55 fifties.

9. Barinder Sran (Retired from all formats)

Barinder Sran, who is a left-arm pace bowler from Punjab, chose to hang up his boots when he was 31 years old. When he first appeared on the international stage for India during a T20 match against Zimbabwe in June 2016, he did very well at the beginning bagging 4 wickets and giving up just 10 runs. This debut is still the top first-game showing by any Indian player in T20Is. Despite this spectacular beginning, he didn't become as famous or successful as everyone thought he would in international cricket. Over his career, he got to play in six One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and a couple of T20 International matches, catching a total of 13 wickets.

10. Wriddhiman Saha (Retired from all formats)

Wriddhiman Saha, the person who kept wicket and hit runs for India, decided he was done playing cricket at every level on November 3, 2024. His plan was to stop playing cricket after the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season finished. Saha had his moments playing 40 tests and nine ODIs from 2010 to 2021, where he knocked 1,353 runs in tests which even included conjoining three whole centuries. Despite that, superstars like MS Dhoni and Rishabh Pant often took the spotlight, leaving Saha's last match for India in 2021, playing against New Zealand at Wankhede Stadium.

11. Siddarth Kaul (Retired from all formats)

Indian bowler Siddarth Kaul announced his retirement on November 28, 2024. Kaul, 34, represented India in three ODIs and three T20Is, taking four wickets in T20Is but none in ODIs.

12. Ravichandran Ashwin (Retired from all formats)

After the third test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Brisbane in 2024-25, Ravichandran Ashwin, who plays spin-bowling all-rounder for India, said he's retiring.  Ashwin first played in 2010 and has been in 106 tests, 116 ODIs, and 65 T20Is since then. Mr. Ashwin has gotten 537 players out in tests, 156 in ODIs, and 72 in T20Is. Ashwin didn't only throw -- he could bat, too, earning 3,503 runs in tests, including hitting six centuries and fourteen fifties. Something exceptionally wonderful about him?Ashwin's tied with Muttiah Muralitharan for getting the most Man of the Series awards in test cricket, which is 11 times.

2024 has indeed been a year of significant retirements in Indian cricket, marking the end of an era for some of the game's greatest players.

The 34-year-old Indian right-arm pacer Siddarth Kaul has officially announced his retirement from all formats of cricket. He played six limited-overs matches for the national team.

Siddarth Kaul was a star in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2008

Siddarth Kaul, the son of former Jammu and Kashmir cricketer Tej Kaul, started playing cricket at the age of six. Kaul was a key member of the India U19 team during the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2008 in Malaysia, where the Virat Kohli-led Indian team won the trophy. In that tournament, Kaul took ten wickets in five innings and finished as India’s joint-leading wicket-taker in that tournament. 

In the rain-curtailed final match of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup, Kaul finished with the bowling figures of 5-0-26-2. Kaul delivered the final over of the match, where South Africa U19 required 19 runs to win that final and had four wickets in hand. Kaul picked two wickets in that final over and conceded only six runs, as India U19 won that final by 12 runs in the D/L method.

However, before the U19 World Cup, Kaul made his debut in first-class cricket for Punjab. On his first-class debut, Kaul recorded a five-wicket haul in the first innings as he had the bowling figures of 23-6-79-5 against Orissa. 

IPL career 

Kaul played IPL for now-defunct Deccan Chargers, SunRisers Hyderabad, and Royal Challengers Bangalore. In 55 IPL matches, Kaul took 58 wickets, while his last IPL match was for RCB in 2022. 

In the IPL 2017, Kaul took 16 wickets in ten games. In the next season, Kaul took 21 wickets in 17 games and finished as the joint-second most wicket-taker in the tournament.  

International career

Due to his consistent performances, Kaul ultimately made his international debut in the 2018 Dublin T20I against Ireland in June. In the next month, he made his ODI debut in the England tour. In his first T20I, Kaul had the bowling figures of 2-0-4-1.  

In his short international career, Kaul picked up four wickets in three T20Is and none in his three ODIs. His last international match was the 2019 Bengaluru T20I against Australia. 

In his career, Kaul took 297 wickets in 88 first-class matches, 199 wickets in 111 List A games, and 182 wickets in 145 T20s. He finished as a legendary bowler for Punjab as he ended as the leading wicket-taker for Punjab in all three formats (263 first-class wickets, 155 List A wickets, and 120 T20 wickets).

When I was a child playing cricket in the fields in Punjab, I had one dream. A dream to represent my country. In 2018, by Gods grace, I received my India Cap Number 75 in the T20i team and Cap Number 221 in the ODI team.

The time has now come to call time on my career in India… pic.twitter.com/XiNQ0NBqou

— Siddharthh Kaul (@iamsidkaul) November 28, 2024