'Bitter sweet but grateful' - Dale Steyn announces retirement from all forms of the game

South Africa’s legendary fast bowler Dale Steyn has announced his retirement from all formats of the game. He had earlier pulled curtains down only on his Test career in August 2019 and had insisted to continue playing for South Africa in the limited-overs formats, especially in T20s.

After announcing his Test retirement, Steyn might have expected to play in the T20 World Cup scheduled in 2020 in Australia. But it didn’t go as planned with the tournament getting postponed thanks to COVID-19 outbreak across the world.

Earlier this year, the pacer pulled out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well but featured in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). In PSL itself, he played the last game of his career on March 3, 2021. However, for South Africa, Steyn didn’t feature after February 2020 when the Proteas faced Australia.

Dale Steyn took to Twitter to announce his retirement as he penned down the lyrics (from Album ‘Recovering the Satellites’) of his favourite band, the Counting Crows. He also thanked his fans, family and everyone who was with him during this incredible journey. In his tweet, the 38-year-old also posted some of the best pictures of his illustrious career.

“Today I officially retire from the game I love the most. Bitter sweet but grateful. Thank you to everyone, from family to teammates, journalists to fans, it’s been a incredible journey together,” Dale Steyn wrote in his tweet.

Here’s the tweet:

Steyn was one of the best ever to play for South Africa

Dale Steyn will definitely go down as one of the best ever cricketers to play for South Africa. He troubled the best of batsmen during his career which spanned more than 15 years. He picked up 439 wickets in 93 Test matches apart from scalping 196 and 64 wickets in 125 ODIs and 47 T20Is respectively.

He was one of the best bowlers to feature in the IPL as well accounting for 97 wickets in 95 matches. He played his last IPL game for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) under Virat Kohli which was also his first team in the cash-rich league.