Current Affairs August 2019 - Resignations

1 - Venugopal Rao announced retirement from all forms of cricket

Former India player and Andhra Ranji captain, Y. Venugopal Rao has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. He played 16 One-Day Internationals for India scoring 218 runs in 11 innings for the country.

Venugopal Rao played 121 first-class games and scored 7,081 runs with 17 centuries. He also played 65 Indian Premier League (IPL) matches for Deccan Chargers, Delhi Daredevils and SunRisers Hyderabad between 2008 and 2014. He was also a member of the India under-19 World Cup-winning team in 2000.

2 - South Africa’s Dale Steyn announced retirement from Test cricket

South African leading wicket-taker and fast bowler Dale Steyn announced his retirement from Test cricket. Dale Steyn has played 93 test matches for South Africa and took 439 wickets at an astonishing average of 22.95. He is South Africa's leading wicket-taker in Test cricket.

Steyn dominated the number one spot in the ICC Test rankings during the peak of his career, for a record 263 weeks between 2008 and 2014. Dale Steyn has been honored with Wisden Cricketer of the year for 2014 and Wisden Leading Cricketer for 2013.

3 - Former Uruguay Captain Diego Forlan announced retirement from professional football

Former Uruguay captain and legendary striker, Diego Forlan, announced his retirement from professional football. Forlan had won the Golden Ball award after being adjudged the best player of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Forlan helped Uruguay win the Copa America Cup in 2011. He scored 36 goals in 112 matches for his country. Forlan won the Premier League and FA Cup with Manchester United and the Europa League in 2009-10 for spanish team Atletico Madrid. He also played for Mumbai City in the Indian Super League in 2016.

4 - Hashim Amla announced retirement from international cricket

South Africa batsman Hashim Amla announced retirement from all forms of international cricket with immediate effect. He will continue to play domestic cricket and T20 leagues.

Amla has played 124 Tests, 181 One-Day Internationals and 44 Twenty20 Internationals. He has 9282, 8113 and 1277 runs in the three formats respectively, scoring a total of 55 international centuries. He holds the record for the most ODI tons by a South African (27). He was the first South African to score a triple hundred in Test cricket.

5 - Dutch Footballer Wesley Sneijder announced retirement from Football

Netherlands’ Wesley Sneijder announced his retirement from football of 17 years long career. He played 134 times for his country and from clubs such as FC Utrecht and Al Gharafa.

Sneijder is known to be most capped Dutch player of all time. He has been honored with 2010 Bronze Boot, the 2010 Silver Ball for Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. He was named UEFA midfielder of the season and one of the three best midfielders in the world for 2010 by FIFA.

6 - Former England, Chelsea and Arsenal defender Ashley Cole announced retirement

Former England, Arsenal and Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole announced his retirement. Cole made his debut for Arsenal in 1999 as an 18-year-old and won two Premier League titles and three FA Cups during his seven seasons at the club.

Cole was part of the Arsenal "Invincibles" side that won the Premier League without losing a game in 2003/04. Cole went onto win another Premier League title, the Champions League and the Europa League in an eight-year spell at Chelsea.

7 - West Indies fast bowler Cecil Wright retired at 85

West Indies pacer Cecil Wright announced his retirement from all forms of cricket at the age of 85 years. Cecil has played over twenty lakh matches taking over 7,000 wickets in professional cricket. He played his first match against a Barbados side and his latest match will be against Pennine League side Springhead on September 7.

Jamaican Cricketer Cecil was a right arm fast bowler and his career lasted for 60 years. At one time, Cecil took 538 wickets in 5 seasons thus calculating to one wicket in every 27 balls he played.

8 - Srilankan cricketer Ajantha Mendis announced retirement from Cricket

Srilankan spinner Ajantha Mendis announced retirement at age of 34 years from all forms of cricket. He is best known for his 6/13 in the Asia Cup Final in 2008. He has played 19 Tests, 87 One-Day Internationals and 39 T20Is for Sri Lanka, taking 70 Test wickets, 152 ODI wickets and 66 T20I wickets in his career.

Ajantha Mendis is known to be only bowler to take a six-wicket haul in T20Is twice. His last match played was for Sri Lanka in 2015.