Former cricketer and captain of the Indian cricket team Kapil Dev, forever immortalised in Indian history for leading the nation to its maiden world cup title in 1983, stated that a cricketer’s ‘peak performance’ happens between 26 years old and 34 years old. How long they can sustain at the summit thereafter depends on Fitness.
This observation is quite significant for high profile players like Rohit Sharma and Virat kohli. Both of them have crossed this age range. Few have played well enough, Kohli will be 36 this coming November, Rohit who turns 37 on April retired from t20is after the winning t20 cricket world cup but is still active in some other forms of the game.
Spilling his beans on MyKhel, he said, “In my opinion, between 26 to 34 years is the best part of the career and mostly thereafter the technical capabilities and physical fitness of the players will determine the consent and tenure of their professional careers.” Kapil himself was 35 years old when he finally hanged up his hat playing 131 tests and 225 od uhis match competitions. He availed 434 and 253 wickets of each game type. He also, had decent stats in batting having made 5248 points in test matches and 3783 in one day international.
But Kapil specifically stressed that it is the players choice as to when to retire. In his opinion as long as the players are fit and are enjoying the game themselves, they should keep playing.
He observed, “When compared that Ravi Shastri called it quits at a very young age then Sachin Tendulkar played for longer. So it is the individual who chooses how to live his/her life. My way of thinking is do exercise and take on the field till the game is interesting.”
That perception provided insight into how modern players would career paths. He fetches a framework but concedes on individual choices.
As Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli traverse their twilight, Ms Kapil Dev’s ideology helps them as well as the fans in comprehending the turning points of their careers still to come.
