Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir has announced his retirement from cricket on Tuesday (December 4). The Ranji Trophy game between Delhi and Andhra starting Thursday at the Feroz Shah Kotla will be his last game.

Gambhir, 37, has played 58 Tests, 147 ODIs and 37 T20Is for India scoring more than 10000 runs combined. He made his debut in 2003 and last played for India in a Test against England in Rajkot in 2016. He retires with nine Test centuries and 11 ODI centuries to his name.

He played key roles in India's title victories in the 2007 World T20 and the 2011 World Cup, top-scoring for India with 75 and 97 in the respective finals.

Gambhir said in his video statement that he has been contemplating, and dreading, retirement for years, pointing to his failures in the 2014 IPL and being dropped from the Test side in 2016. The poor performance in IPL 2018, when he returned to Delhi Daredevils, made him decide that his time was up.

"After more than 15 years of cricket for my country I want to retire from playing this beautiful game," he said. "Despite all the aches and pains; fears and failures I won’t mind a repeat of this in my next life too. But obviously with a few more wins for India, a few more hundreds and in the next life may be a few five-wicket hauls as well.

"At some stage I would like to shed the retired cricketers tag and would like to recycle myself to be useful for something else in cricket and beyond. I am big one on loyalty. I am glad that I could finish with teams that I started my journey with. In this case ending with both Delhi Daredevils and Delhi domestic side has given me immense satisfaction,” he said

"As a batsman I have always valued timing. I know the time is just right. I am sure it’s sweet as well," added Gautam Gambhir.

Source: News18

BDST: 2152 HRS, DEC 4, 2018
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