It was in 2005 that the first Men’s T20I happened. It was a game between England and Australia and was won by the latter. Initially, the format was restricted to youngsters by most teams. However, the veterans of the game also played a few encounters. In this article, we take a look at five popular players who are currently aged above 50 but have played T20I cricket in the past.
T20I is fairly a new format, and yet, we have a few players who played the game who are above 50 years of age now. Of course, most of these players played T20Is at the fag end of their careers.
1) Sanath Jayasuriya – 51 Years
Sanath Jayasuriya is part of this list of popular players who are currently aged above 50 but have played T20I cricket in the past. The Sri Lankan opener made his debut at the brink of his 37th birthday. Always an aggressive batsman, Jayasuriya was an automatic pick for Sri Lanka when the T20 format came by. He also used to offer quality left-arm off-spin, which was an added bonus to the captain. Sanath, who also played for Mumbai Indians in the IPL, finished his T20I career after playing 31 encounters.
2) Glenn McGrath – 51 Years
Glenn McGrath is arguably the greatest pacer that Australia has seen. Across the Test and ODI formats, McGrath picked loads of wickets to help Australia dominate and lift trophies. The right-arm bowler also played two encounters in the T20I format. He collected five wickets and later did not participate in T20I cricket. He returned to play IPL in 2008 for Delhi Daredevils. Although he had a decent season, he did not play the next season in South Africa.
3) Inzamam-ul-Haq – 51 Years
Inzamam-ul-Haq was 36 years old when he played his first T20I game. It was also his last T20I encounter. Inzamam, who led Pakistan in that game against England, scored 11 runs from 15 deliveries. After that match, the big-hitters from Pakistan took over the format. They have been successful so far with one T20 World Cup in their cabinet.
4) Darren Gough – 50 Years
Not many remember but England fast bowler Darren Gough, who is into management now, also represented his country in T20Is. He played two games and managed to pick three wickets. A talented bowler, if Gough had been active in this era, he would have been a useful customer in the format. Nevertheless, the right-arm pacer had a fine career in the English team.
5) Brad Hogg – 50 Years
Brad Hogg is also one of the players who are currently aged above 50 but have played T20I cricket in the past. After making his T20I debut at the age of 35, Hogg was on the scene for a very long time. Even after his time with the Aussie jersey was done, Hogg was still active in franchise cricket. One of the best left-arm wrist-spinners that the game has seen, Hogg played 15 T20I games to collect seven wickets at an economy of 7.61.
