India pacer Vinay Kumar announces his retirement from all forms of cricket

In the middle of a normal afternoon, there is a piece of news that is going to grab your attention. News has come in that Indian pacer Vinay Kumar has announced his retirement from international and first-class cricket.

The pacer announced his retirement on Twitter and thanked everybody for the love and support that was showered on him throughout his career. In fact, Kumar has also attached a letter that he has written. In the letter, the pacer has compared his journey to that of an Express and stated that the Express has now stopped in the station called retirement.

He also stated in his letter that he is retiring from international as well as first-class cricket. He added that it was surely not an easy decision to make, but stated that there comes a time in the life of a sportsman when he has to walk away into the sunset.

A letter of gratitude from Vinay Kumar

In fact, Kumar’s letter can also be called the letter of gratitude, as he thanked a host of parties in his heartfelt letter. Kumar thanked the Karnataka State Cricket Association(KSCA) for providing him the opportunity to pursue his dream as well as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for allowing him to don the Indian blues.

He also thanked the various IPL franchises that he has been a part of. In his IPL stint, Kumar rendered his services to the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) outfit, the Mumbai Indians (MI), the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as well as the Kochi Tuskers Kerala side. He also thanked the several ‘great minds’ with whom he shared the dressing room, including MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, and Virat Kohli.

Kumar’s letter ended on an emotional note, where he stated that the ‘Davangare Express’ has only stopped, but has not yet derailed. It was indeed an emotional letter that was penned by the pacer.

For the record, Kumar played 31 ODIs, 9 T20Is and 1 Test for India. While he picked up 38 wickets in the ODI format, he scalped 10 wickets in the T20I arena. In the whites, Kumar scalped a solitary wicket. However, Kumar was a veteran in IPL cricket. The right arm pacer featured in 105 matches, and picked up 105 wickets at an average of 28.25.

And, at the age of 37, the Karnataka-born pacer has hung his boots. And from today onwards, Vinay Kumar will be called a former Indian cricketer. You can see Kumar’s heartfelt tweet below.

Thankyou all for your love and support throughout my career. Today I hang up my boots. 🙏🙏❤️ #ProudIndian pic.twitter.com/ht0THqWTdP

— Vinay Kumar R (@Vinay_Kumar_R) February 26, 2021