Veteran Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on Friday announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.
Harbhajan took it to his official twitter handle to announce his retirement.
“All good things come to an end and today as I bid adieu to the game that has given me everything in life, I would like to thank everyone who made this 23-year-long journey beautiful and memorable,” the 41-year-old tweeted.
Harbhajan is the fourth highest wicket taker for an off spinner in test cricket. He has picked up 417 wickets in 103 matches for team India.
Harbhajan released a video from his official YouTube channel in which the turbanator was thanking his parents, sister and wife for supporting him throughout in his amazing 23-year journey. The 41-year-old said in that video that he made up his mind to retire when he was in KKR in 2021.
In the video message, Harbhajan said like all other cricketers he wanted to retire in an Indian jersey but unfortunately, he did not get the opportunity to do so. He added that he had retired a long time ago mentally but he delayed the announcement.
“Like all cricketers, I too wanted to bid adieu in Indian jersey but fate had something else in store for me,” he said in a video message. “…there comes a time when you have to take some tough decisions and have to move on in life. Mentally I had retired long back but couldn’t announce it.”
WATCH this video below:
Since making his debut in 1998, the Jalandhar based cricketer has played in 103 tests, 236 ODIs and 28 T20Is for Team India. The veteran Indian off spinner played his last match for team India in the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup against UAE in Dhaka.
‘Bhajji’ played his last test against Sri Lanka in 2015 at Galle. He played his last ODI in the same year against the Proteas at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. He played his last IPL game this year against RCB at the MA Chidambaram Stadium for the KKR. In 103 tests and 236 ODIs, Harbhajan picked up 417 wickets and 269 wickets respectively.
After making his official announcement, Harbhajan Singh was congratulated by a lot of cricketers like Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and many more.