Yusuf Pathan Announces Retirement From All Forms of Cricket; About To Play in Road Safety Series 2021
Former India all-rounder Yusuf Pathan has joined the India legends' squad for the Road Safety Series 2021. He announced his retirement from international cricket a couple of hours back.
India all-rounder Yusuf Pathan, on Friday, announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. The 38-year-old has played 57 ODIs and 22 T20Is for India. He was a part of the victorious squads of the ICC World T20 in 2007 and the ICC World Cup in 2011. Unfortunately, Yusuf fell out of favor of the selectors after 2012 and since then, never played international cricket. However, the strongly built batsman kept the spectators entertaining in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Pathan made a name for himself in the Indian Premier League while playing for Rajasthan Royals, which led to his national call-up. He also represented Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Known for his hard-hitting cricketing style, the middle-order batsman scored 810 ODI runs and 236 T20I runs for India. Apart from this, he picked up 46 wickets in limited-overs international cricket.
“Winning two World Cups for India and lifting Sachin Tendulkar on my shoulders were some of the best moments of my career,” he wrote in a statement.
“I made my international debut under MS Dhoni, IPL debut under Shane Warne, Ranji debut under Jacob Martin and would like to thank them for believing in me. I thank Gautam Gambhir with whom, at KKR, we won the IPL trophy twice. I would also like to thank my brother and backbone Irfan Pathan who was always there for me during the highs and lows of my career.
“Last but not least, I would like to thank BCCI and BCA for the opportunity to play for my country and state.
“Nothing can keep me away from cricket and my passion for the sport will remain the same. I will continue to entertain everyone even in the future.”
Yusuf Pathan IPL Career
As far as his IPL career is concerned, he featured in 174 matches and accumulated 3204 runs at an amazing strike rate of above 140 with 13 half-centuries and one century. He also picked 42 wickets with an economy of 7.2. The all-rounder also won the IPL thrice, in 2007 with Rajasthan Royals and in 2012 and 2014, while playing for Kolkata Knight Riders and it goes without saying that he played a crucial role for his teams every time he got an opportunity.
Talking about his domestic career, Yusuf played 100 FC, 199 List A, and 274 T20 matches while scoring more than 14000 runs while also picking more than 400 wickets across all formats.
Yusuf Pathan To Play in Road Safety Series 2021
Meanwhile, Yusuf Pathan is set to make his on-field return as he has joined the India legends’ squad for the upcoming Road Safety Series 2021. Yusuf will play along with brother Irfan, Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and a number of other legends. As per the BCCI’s rules, an Indian player cannot play any league which isn’t authorized by the board (barring county cricket) until he retires from Indian cricket, including IPL.
