Picture Credit: Twitter
Indian all-rounder Yusuf Pathan announced his retirement from international cricket on Friday. The Baroda cricketer famously starred in 2007 T20 World Cup winning team and was also part of the ICC 2011 World Cup winning squad. The 38-year-old played 174 matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL) while representing the national team in 57 ODIs and 22 T20Is. Known for his big-hitting ability, his 37-ball century in the IPL 2010 for Rajasthan Royals against Mumbai Indians still remains the second-fastest in the history of the tournament.
With the emergence of new finishers in the domestic circuit, Yusuf fell out of favour after 2012 and never played international cricket again. However, he kept on entertaining fans in the IPL. His last appearance in the T20 tournament came in 2019 for the Sunrisers Hyderabad following which he found no takers in the auction after being released by the Orange Army.
Here’s the tweet:
“I officially announce retirement from all forms of the game. I thank my family, friends, fans, team, and the whole country wholeheartedly for all the support and love. I am sure you will continue to encourage me in future as well,” he said in an elaborate social media message.
"I thank my family, friends, fans, teams, coaches and the whole country wholeheartedly for all the support and love," his post was captioned.
Overall, Yusuf accumulated 810 runs in 410 ODI innings batting mostly in the lower middle order at an average of 27 with three half-centuries and two hundreds. In addition he also scalped 33 wickets with his off-break bowling. As far as the shortest format is concerned, the 6.1 ft tall batsman had 18 T20I innings in which he mustered 236 runs at a strike-rate of 146.58 also having 13 wickets to his credit.