Picture Credit: Twitter
It was an emotional day for the Zimbabwe legend Brendan Taylor as the 34-year-old took the field for one last time at the highest level. Zimbabwe’s former captain has done wonders for the national team. After serving his team for 17 long years, he has decided to call it a day. Taylor made the announcement on Instagram on Sunday that the third ODI against Zimbabwe at Belfast will be his last one for the country.
Taylor has been a consistent performer for Zimbabwe since his debut in 2004. He has the most number of ODI centuries for Zimbabwe. When the legendary batsman walked out to bat for the final time in his international career, players from both the teams took their time to honour the wicket-keeper batsman. His teammates gave him the guard of honour while the opposition players also clapped for Taylor while he took the field.
Watch the moment here:
Brendon Taylor– the best Zimbabwe cricket has ever seen?
Brendan Taylor is surely one of the best if not the best Zimbabwe cricket has ever seen. Ever since he donned the national team’s jersey, he has worn it with utter pride. Taylor has delivered for his team on most of the occasions. He has featured in 204 ODIs, 34 Tests, and 45 T20Is and has aggregated almost 10,000 runs (9938 to be exact) across formats. He has 17 international centuries against his name. He finished his career as the second-highest run-getter, right behind Andy Flower, for Zimbabwe in the 50-overs format.
While announcing his retirement, he said that he wanted to leave the team in a better position as to what it was in 2004. “It's with a heavy heart that I'm announcing that tomorrow is my last game for my beloved country. 17 years of extreme highs and extreme lows and I wouldn't change it for the world. It's taught me to be humble, to always remind myself how lucky I was to be in the position I was in for so long. To wear the badge with pride and leave everything on the field. My goal was to always leave the team in a better position as to when I first arrived back in 2004, I hope I have done that," Taylor wrote in his retirement post.