One of the best off-spinners of all-time Harbhajan Singh has called time on his playing days and announced his retirement from cricket on Twitter. This brings an end to a career that began in 1998.
Harbhajan had made his Test debut at the age of 17 against Australia and went on to play 103 Tests, taking 417 wickets and scoring 2224 runs with two centuries. He picked 269 wickets in 236 ODI matches and took 25 wickets in 28 T20Is for India from 1998-2016.
He is also one of the few bowlers to pick 150 wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 163 matches with a best of 5/18. He won three IPL titles with Mumbai Indians and once with Chennai Super Kings.
The Punjab spinner came into prominence for picking 32 wickets in 3 Tests against Australia at home in the historic 2001 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He also took the first Test hat-trick for India in Kolkata.
Harbhajan was also part of India’s historic World Cup triumphs in the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 World Cup. His last international appearance came back in 2016 in a T20I against UAE in Dhaka.
Harbhajan Singh took to Twitter to announce his retirement saying, “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. My heartfelt thank you Grateful”
It is rumored that Harbhajan Singh has been approached to join a major IPL franchise in a coaching role for the upcoming IPL 2022. It remains to be seen which team the Turbanator joins, but his experience will be invaluable.
