Cricket / Harbhajan Singh retires from all forms of cricket aged 41

Cricket Desk: Harbhajan Singh has finally brought curtains to his illustrious career. The talismanic off-spinner took to Twitter on Friday (December 24) and made the major announcement. Hailed as one of the finest spinners ever, Harbhajan enjoyed a sensational runs in the international arena. He made the best of batters dance to his tunes and took India to many victories across all formats.

In fact, Harbhajan played a vital role in taking India to glory in the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup. Making his international debut in 1998, the off-spinner from Punjab didn’t take long in cementing his place in the national team. He joined forces with leg-spinner and the duo tormented many batting line-ups in tandem.

The offie is fondly remembered for his heroics in the historic 2001 Border-Gavaskar series against Australia, where he take a record of 32 wickets in 3 matches to revive his cricketing career. There was no looking back for him since then as the spinner shattered one record after another. He also performed exceptionally well in the Indian Premier League (IPL), where he served Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders.

Harbhajan Singh finishes as India’s second-most successful bowler

Notably, Harbhajan was also a handy batter lower down the order besides being a wicket-taking machine. He, in fact, smashed centuries against New Zealand in two consecutive Tests. With 711 wickets in international cricket, Harbhajan is still India’s second-most successful bowler after Anil Kumble. However, his numbers would have been more sensational, had he played more international cricket in the latter stages of his career.

His last international appearance came back in 2016 in a T20 international. As far as professional cricket is concerned, Harbhajan was last seen in KKR colours in IPL 2021. Coming to the talismanic spinner’s post, he thanked his fans and well wishers who made his 23-year-old journey beautiful.

“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,” tweeted the 41-year-old.