India opener and World Cup hero Gautam Gambhir on Tuesday called time on his career as a cricketer, announcing his retirement from all forms of the game. The 37-year old took to social media to reveal the decision.
ALSO READ: Full text of Gambhir's retirement announcement
"The most difficult decisions are often taken with the heaviest of hearts. And with one heavy heart, I’ve decided to make an announcement that I’ve dreaded all my life," Gambhir wrote while sharing an emotional video on both Twitter and Facebook.
The most difficult decisions are often taken with the heaviest of hearts. And with one heavy heart, I’ve decided… [ Ссылка ]
— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) 1543932575000
Delhi's next Ranji Trophy game against Andhra, beginning on December 6, will be Gambhir's farewell match. The decision means the left-hander will also not be a part of next year's Indian Premier League.
"IT IS OVER GAUTI. So, here I am, after more than 15 years of cricket for my country I want to retire from playing this beautiful game. Despite all the aches and pains; fears and failures I won’t mind a repeat of this in my next life too. But obviously with a few more wins for India, a few more hundreds and in the next life may be a few 5-wicket hauls as well," an emotional Gambhir said in the video.
"This may sound a little wishful but then I have seen wishes do come true. Two World Cups, highest run-getter in finals of both these games is a stuff dreams are made of and I only had this dream of winning the World Cup for you all. I think someone up there was writing my script but looks like now he has ran out of his ink!," the former India captain added.
The left-handed batsman will be remembered for his crucial knocks in both the 2007 World T20 and 2011 ICC World Cup finals. He had also led Kolkata Knight Riders to two IPL titles as captain in 2012 and 2014.
Gambhir last played for Indian national team in a Test against England in 2016. In all, he has represented India in 58 Tests, 147 ODIs and 37 T20Is in 15 years long international career. He has scored 4154 runs in Tests at an average of 41.95, which included 9 hundreds and 22 fifties. In ODIs, he accumulated 5238 runs at 39.68 (11 hundreds and 34 fifties) and in the shortest format of the game, he has 932 runs with the help of seven half-centuries.
The left-hander also had a prolific first-class career, which spanned 197 matches and produced 15,041 runs. He has 10,077 runs in List A cricket
#ThankYouGambhir #GautamGambhir #Retirement
