Veteran India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on Friday took to social media to announce his retirement from all forms of competitive cricket. Harbhajan, the first Indian to take a Test hat-trick, is fondly remembered for his sensational display of bowling in the historic 2001 Border-Gavaskar series against Australia where he took a record of 32 wickets in 3 matches to revive his cricketing career.

Harbhajan Singh is among the few players who have been part of India’s historic World Cup triumphs in 2007 (T20) and 2011. He picked up 7 wickets, bowling in tough phases in the inaugural T20 World Cup leading the spin-bowling attack in 2011 as India outclassed arch-rivals Pakistan in the semi-final before beating Sri Lanka in the final.

Notably, his last international appearance came back in 2016 in a T20 international. Harbhajan took 417 wickets in 103 Tests, which is currently the fourth most number of wickets by an Indian bowler in Test Cricket.

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 .https://t.co/iD6WHU46MU

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) December 24, 2021

The 41-year-old Harbhajan, who featured in a few matches during the first phase of the last IPL for Kolkata Knight Riders, didn’t play a game in the UAE leg of the league. Harbhajan has always shown a keen interest in grooming players and that was also his role in his later years with Mumbai Indians, where he spent a fruitful decade.

‘I am retiring from all forms of cricket’

“In my mind, I retired earlier but I am making the announcement today. My journey from the streets of Jalandhar to become the Turnabator for Team India has been a beautiful one. There is no bigger motivation for me in life than stepping out on the field, wearing the India jersey. There comes a time in life where we have to take a tough decision, you have to move forward in life. I was waiting for the last few years to make this announcement public — I am retiring from all forms of cricket,” Harbhajan said on his YouTube channel wearing an India blazer.

In fact, in KKR last year, Harbhajan spent a lot of time guiding Varun Chakravarthy, who has been an integral part of the franchise for the last two seasons. Harbhajan has played 163 matches in the IPL across 13 seasons (he didn’t take part in 2020) for Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and KKR and has taken 150 wickets at an average of 26 and his best figures being 5/18.