Tatenda Taibu- Zimbabwe
Imagine, you make your debut alongside cricketers who have idolized in your formative years, and all of a sudden all of them are gone, and you find yourself leading a bunch of youngsters amidst a politically charged environment. This is exactly what happened with Tatenda Taiba when he made the record of being the youngest Test captain in history back in 2004.
Taibu was easily Zimbabwe’s most talented batsman at the time but even he had to bore the brunt of voicing his opinions on the cricketing landscape of his country. Following threats to his family, Taibu announced his pre-mature retirement in 2005. After playing league cricket in Bangladesh, England, and Namibia, Taibu made a comeback to the national team in 2007.
In the following years, he would go on to score runs on a consistent basis before another shock came in 2012 when reports emerged that the former captain has retired from the game in order to start a church. Taibu, in a recent interview with Cricket Addictor, clarified the misconceptions around his retirement.
“That is not true. I have since then released my autobiography (Keeper of Faith) where I have stipulated what happened during that period. So what happened was, I went to have a meeting with the CEO to tell him that I had the calling and I was following that calling. He said that we can’t announce the information that you have just given us,” he added.
“We can’t say that to the media. We have to find the best possible way for people to understand,” He added: “I stand whatever you put in the papers is up to you; I have already told you my reasons. So, they thought that the best way for people to understand is if they say that I am a preacher So they said Tatenda has retired to become a preacher. So that is the first article that came out. And, people always go with that first article,”
