Rahul Sharma announces retirement from all forms of cricket

Punjab spinner Rahul Sharma has announced his retirement from international cricket and first-class cricket. The leg-spinner who had Bell’s Palsy, a form of facial paralysis that affected his vision, first came up through the ranks in IPL 2010 for the Deccan Chargers and then got picked up by the Pune Warriors in 2011, which turned out to be a life-changing move for him.

With his variations in pace and the bounce he can extract, Sharma troubled the batters and picked up 16 wickets in the season at a very good economy rate. He soon got a call up to the Indian side and went on to represent the country in four ODIs and two T20Is. He was involved in drug case and it took a year time for him to prove he was innocent, thereby losing his place on the Indian side.

He last played an IPL game for the Delhi Daredevils in 2014 against the Rajasthan Royals and bagged a contract with the Chennai Super Kings in 2015. He did not play any first-class games or List A games after 2014 for his state side Punjab. “Thanks to all for ur love and support throughout my journey, ⁦@BCCI@BCCIdomestic @IPL”, Rahul Sharma tweeted.

Thanks to all for ur love and support throughout my journey 😊❤️🇮🇳 ⁦@BCCI⁩ ⁦@BCCIdomestic⁩ ⁦@IPL⁩ #retirement pic.twitter.com/anqBGUSwoa

— Rahul Sharma (@ImRahulSharma3) August 28, 2022

It’s been 22 years since I started playing cricket: Rahul Sharma

Rahul Sharma Sharma mentioned about various things in his letter and he started by expressing emotions over moving on from the game. Further, he was delighted to have shared the dressing rooms with a lot of legends including Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble.

He paid gratitude to the number of IPL teams that handed him a chance alongside the Punjab Cricket Association and Jalandhar district association. He concluded by thanking his childhood coach and to the persons who have involved in journey so far.