Indian spinner Rahul Sharma has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on Sunday.
The leg-spinner who plied his trade from Punjab at the domestic level played four ODIs and two T20I for India. Apart from playing for India, he also turned up for Deccan Chargers, Pune Warriors India, Delhi Daredevils, and Chennai Super Kings. The wily spinner took to Twitter to break the news to his fans and also announce his participation for the upcoming season of the Road Safety World Series.
“Today the day has come I am writing this letter with mixed emotions…From getting up early in the morning for training to scheduling my entire day around cricket & There was a time when I had to battle with my injury but never give up on my hard work & trying to find out a way to become a better player always has been my motivation & still keeps me going in my cricket journey.” he wrote on Twitter.
He expressed his gratitude to BCCI for giving him the opportunity to live his dream and acknowledged the players with whom he had the fortune of sharing the dressing room with.
“I would like to thank BCCI for making me a part of the family. Playing for the country is the ultimate dream for any cricketer…I am glad and blessed to have achieved the feat. It’s fortunate and lucky to have shared the dressing room with Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli. Especially blessed to have Sachin Tendulkar in the team. He is a true inspiration. Thanks to Anil Kumble sir. He has been my idol during his cricket journey,” he further added.
He reserved a special word of appreciation for Adam Gilchrist who was his captain during his tenure with the Deccan Chargers. “I still remember when I went to my first IPL. The biggest tragedy happened to me at that time, a facial nerve dysfunction affected my eyes but at that time my captain Adam Gilchrist helped me a lot. He motivated me to play further, a big thanks to him. That was the biggest experience of my life and the biggest challenge at the initial stage of my cricket career which I faced and took my journey forward,” he wrote.
“I have always been honest to cricket with my hard work & determination. I can play this game with all my heart & energy for a lifetime and more I am a firm believer in hard work and destiny and God has his own ways to give chance. He closes some doors but opens many others. I would like to say that things have not been as smooth in the last few 4-5years. After recovering from my injury. I was continuously working hard but it’s unfortunate I couldn’t get a single chance at the state level to showcase my bowling after recovering from my injury,” he concluded.