Harbhajan Singh believes he retired late, says 'should've taken retirement 3-4 years back'

Former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh, who announced retirement from all forms of the sport yesterday has said that he should have retired years ago and that he is late in making the announcement. Harbhajan, while speaking to ANI, said his main motive behind taking retirement is to spend time with his family. The 2011 World Cup-winning player further added that he will try to avoid competitive cricket going forward. 

"Main motive is to spend time with family. I will try to avoid competitive cricket. I should have taken retirement 3-4 years back. I am late in this," Harbhajan was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. 

"In many ways, I had already retired as a cricketer but hadn't been able to make a formal announcement. I haven't been an active cricketer for a while. But I had a commitment to Kolkata Knight Riders and wanted to spend the (2021) IPL season with them. But during the season itself, I had made up my mind to retire," Harbhajan had said in a statement while announcing retirement on Friday.

Harbhajan's career

Harbhajan is most popularly known for his incredible spell against Australia during the 2001 Border-Gavaskar series, where he picked up a hat-trick and helped India come from behind to register an emphatic victory at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Harbhajan also became the first Indian bowler to pick a hat-trick in Test cricket in the same series. Harbhajan has on several occasions contributed with the bat as well. 

Harbhajan has played 103 Tests, 236 ODIs, and 28 T20Is for India between 1998 and 2016. The right-arm off-spinner picked up 417 wickets in Tests and is the fourth-highest wicket-taker for India in the longest format. Harbhajan has 269 wickets in ODIs and 25 wickets in T20Is. Harbhajan was a part of the 2011 World Cup-winning team and played a major role with the ball in India's historic campaign that year.

Image: HarbhajanSingh/YouTube