Veteran Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on Friday announced his retirement from all forms of competitive cricket, drawing curtains on a glittering 23-year career in the sport. 

“All good things come to an end and today as I bid adieu to the game that has given me everything in life, I would like to thank everyone who made this 23-year-long journey beautiful and memorable. My heartfelt thank you,” the 41-year-old said in a tweet. 

One of the finest spinners to represent India, Harbhajan played 103 Test matches for India, in which he picked up 417 wickets. He also has 269 wickets from 236 ODI appearances as well as 25 wickets from 28 T20I games. 

‘The Turbanator’ was recently replaced as India’s third highest wicket-taker in Tests by Ravichandran Ashwin during the recent home series against New Zealand. 

“The 25-year-long journey from the streets of Jalandhar to India’s ‘Turbanator’ has been very beautiful,” Harbhajan said in a live broadcast on YouTube. “There has probably been no bigger motivation in my life than wearing the India jersey on the field.”

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He said he has been wanting to make the announcement for the last few years, but could not decide on when to make it official. “I have not been playing active cricket for a while, but because of my commitment with the Kolkata Knight Riders, I wanted to stay with them for the IPL season (2021). But during the season, I had decided to retire.”

Harbhajan made his debut for India in a 1998 ODI against Australia. He came into his own in the 2001 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, when he grabbed a hattrick in the famous win against Australia at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. 

He went on to lead India’s spin attack at the 2007 T20 World Cup, as well as the 2011 ODI World Cup, with India emerging victorious in both events.