New Delhi, Nov 11: India fast bowler Munaf Patel has announced his retirement from all forms of the game on Saturday. Patel, who made his debut for India in March 2006, played 13 Tests, 70 ODIs and three T20Is for the team.
He was a member of the 2011 World Cup winning team too. “There is no regret; after all, the cricketers I played with have retired,” Munaf told The Indian Express. “Only Dhoni is left! So, there is no sadness as such. Everyone’s time is up; I would have been sad had others been playing and I had quit.
There is no special reason, age is not on my side, fitness is not the same. Youngsters are there waiting for chances and it doesn’t look nice if I keep hanging on. The main thing is there is no motivation left. I was part of World Cup winning team in 2011; there can’t be a greater high than that.”
The lanky pacer played 13 Tests for India and picked 35 wickets at an average of 38.54. He has just one four-wicket haul (in an innings) in Test cricket – 4-25 in 13 overs in the second innings of his debut Test against England in Mohali in 2006 – he went on to pick seven wickets in the match – which remained his best match figures in the longest format of the game.
He made a significant contribution in ODI cricket where he picked 86 wickets in 67 innings at an average of 30.26 and strike rate of 36.6. His career ODI economy rate was 4.95.
During his career (April 2006 to September 2011), Munaf was the third-highest wicket-taker for India in ODI cricket after Zaheer Khan (116 wickets) and Harbhajan Singh (111).
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