Is Shane Watson retired from the IPL?

Having been appointed the Delhi Capitals assistant coach since the previous season of the Indian Premier League, former Australian allrounder Shane Watson is at present facing some tough challenges in his office with the team unable to put on a comprehensive show with the bat, in the ongoing season so far.

Before handling the coaching department, Watson had played the IPL for three franchises since the league’s inception in 2008 till the 2020 season. He was part of the Rajasthan Royals team which lifted the title in the inaugural season, and represented them until the 2015 season.

The allrounder then played for the RCB during the next two seasons, and finally played three more years – 2018, 2019, and 2020 for the Chennai Super Kings.

Is Shane Watson retired from the IPL?

Yes. Shane Watson has retired from the IPL in the capacity of a player. The 41-year-old had, in November 2020, just a few days after CSK’s last league match of the season announced his retirement from all forms of Cricket.

“It feels like the right time. Knowing that I’ve played my last game of cricket ever for my beloved CSK … To think that I’m finishing up my playing days as a 39-year-old, after all of my injury setbacks that I had along the way, I feel so ridiculously fortunate,” remarked Watson via a video posted on his website on November 3, 2020.

He had played one of the best knocks of his life during the grand finale of IPL 2018, when his unbeaten century (117* off 57) helped CSK win their third IPL title, after defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by 8 wickets.

Watson’s last three years in the IPL as a player

While Watson had a fairy tale ending to the 2018 season, as he had become only the second batter to have smashed a century in an IPL final, he had endured a horrid run of form the next season.

With only a couple of half-centuries across 16 innings, the CSK opener’s bat had stopped doing the talking, but the management and his skipper MS Dhoni kept backing him all the way through as they yet again made it through to the grand finale.

Come the final match against the Mumbai Indians, Watson rose to occasion like the Phoenix bird and threatened the opposition to repeat the heroics of the 2018 final. Battling through pain, he scored 80 (59) while chasing the target of 150 runs in Hyderabad, but had to walk back after getting run out. CSK agonizingly lost the match by one run, failing to score five runs off the last three balls.

In his last IPL season, Watson largely struggled with the bat yet again, akin the entire team did as a unit. Notching-up mere 6 wins out of 14 matches, CSK ended the season on the seventh spot in the points table.