A popular spin bowler Harbhajan Singh will be retired from all formats of cricket following Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020, a source confirmed to mid-day. Talking about IPL 2020, Harbhajan Singh is likely to represent Chennai Super King for one more time. The announcement of his retirement from all formats of the game will be made during IPL 2020.
Earlier, Harbhajan was captain of IPL team Mumbai Indians and Punjab for the 2012–13 Ranji Trophy season. He joined Chennai Super King in the year 2018.
Harbhajan is not an ordinary spinner, he holds the record of the second-highest number of Test wickets by an off-spinner. Yes, he is behind by Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan.
The right-handed spinner debuted in Test and One Day International in early 1998. At the beginning of his career, he had to face some investigation owing to the legality of his bowling action, as well as several disciplinary incidents. However, in 2001, with leading leg spinner Anil Kumble injured, Harbhajan’s career was resuscitated after Indian captain Sourav Ganguly called for his inclusion in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy team.
In that series, Harbhajan proved himself by taking 32 wickets and became the first Indian bowler to take a hat trick in Test Cricket. Besides playing cricket for India, Harbhajan is also an Officer in the Punjab Police and has held the rank of a Superintendent of police (India), reporting to Punjab Police HQ at Barnala.
If Harbhajan makes an official announcement of his retirement after upcoming IPL, he will end his ODI and T20I career with 269 and 25 wickets in 236 and 28 matches respectively.
On the work front, he was last seen playing for India during the Asia Cup T20I against the United Arab Emirates in 2016, made a comeback in the Indian ODI side against Zimbabwe in 2015 after a gap of four years, while he returned into the T20I team in 2015 after three years.