IND vs AUS: For any player, announcing retirement from the sport he gave his heart and soul to is indeed one of the most hurtful yet cherished moments of his life. All the players have to announce their retirement from the game one day, no matter how hard it is. The fifth Test match between India and Australia in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy is slated to take place at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Over the years, numerous superstar players took retirement at this very ground. While there are murmurs of Indian greats Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli announcing their Test retirement in Sydney, nothing is confirmed officially as of now.
On that note, we bring you the five top players who retired at Sydney Cricket Ground.
1. Glenn McGrath
Glenn McGrath is arguably the greatest-ever pace bowler to play for Australia. He played the last game of his career at the Sydney Cricket Ground and having announced his retirement before, his farewell Test turned out to be emotional. Even in his final Test match in 2007, McGrath was at his best, picking up six wickets and James Anderson turned out to be his final Test wicket. Australia won the Test match, beating England by 10 wickets.
Overall, McGrath finished with a staggering 563 wickets after turning up for Australia in 124 Test matches. His average of 21.64 and a strike rate of 51.9 is counted among the best for any player in history. McGrath picked 381 wickets in 250 ODIs at an average of 22.02 with seven five-wicket hauls.
2. David Warner
David Warner is one of the recent players to retire at the Sydney Cricket Ground. His career was filled with controversies but his comeback was one to remember. Warner had decided to retire at the SCG almost a year ago and he had announced the same as well. He played his last Test against Pakistan in January 2024 and notched up a half-century in his final outing.
In the first innings, the southpaw scored 34 runs and then backed it up with a 57-run knock. Australia won his farewell Test match by eight wickets, comfortably. Overall, Warner finished with 8786 runs in 112 Test matches with 26 centuries to his name while in ODIs, the left-hander amassed 6932 runs in 161 matches. He also ended up playing 110 T20Is in his storied career scoring 3277 runs.
3. Shane Warne
The magician, arguably the greatest ever spin bowler to play the sport, Shane Warne also hung his boots from the sport at the SCG. He retired from international cricket alongside his teammate McGrath. The duo enjoyed a grand farewell as Australia won the final Ashes Test in 2007 by 10 wickets to whitewash England in the five-match series.
It wasn’t a memorable game performance-wise for Shane Warne as he picked up only two wickets across two innings. However, the last wicket of his Test career was Andrew Flintoff, England’s skipper in that encounter. Nevertheless, Warne finished with a whopping 708 wickets in his Test career to go with 293 scalps in the 50-over format.
4. Michael Hussey
Michael Hussey is one of the few players to call it quits from the sport in a non-Ashes Test match. The New Year Test against Sri Lanka in 2013 at the SCG was the last game of his career. Yet again, Australia bid one of their legendary players a winning farewell. He scored 25 runs in the first innings and remained unbeaten on 27 in his final innings for his country.
Fittingly, he was in the middle to taste the victory as Australia chased down the target in his final Test. Despite making his debut late, Hussey ended up playing 79 Tests for Australia and scored 6235 runs at an impeccable average of 51.52 with 19 centuries and 29 fifties. He played 185 ODIs and 38 T20Is as well, scoring 5442 and 721 runs, respectively.
5. Steve Waugh
Very few players are lucky enough to play the last game of their career as a captain and Steve Waugh was one of them. However, Australia couldn’t win that game at the SCG against India as the Test match ended in a draw in 2004. The Test match is still remembered for Sachin Tendulkar’s memorable knock of 241* where he didn’t play a single cover drive.
India dominated the Test match in Sydney, entirely, but it was Steve Waugh, who earned a hard-fought draw for his team. He scored 40 runs in the first innings but bid adieu to international cricket with a fighting knock of 80 runs off 159 balls. Overall, he scored 10927 runs in 168 Tests while mustering 7569 runs in 325 ODIs in his illustrious career.
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