As Harbhajan Singh Retires, Relive His Historic Hat-trick vs Australia In 2001. Watch Video

Veteran India spinner Harbhajan Singh on Friday (December 24) announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. The legendary off-spinner who is only the second Indian to pick more than 700 international wickets – the first one being Anil Kumble – decided to draw the curtains on a career spanning 23 years. “There comes a time in life, you have to take tough decisions and you have to move on. From the past year, I wanted to make an announcement, and I was waiting for the right time to share the moment with all of you. Today, I am taking retirement from all formats of cricket. Mentally, I retired earlier but couldn’t announce it,” Harbhajan said in a video posted on his YouTube channel.

The two-time World Cup winner – 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup – made his debut for India in 1998 but it took him close to three years to become a household name with an outstanding performance in a three-match Test series against Australia. Harbhajan’s 32-wicket effort in those three Tests is still rated by many as one of the finest performance by an Indian spinner in a series.

In the second Test of that series, Harbhajan etched his name on the history books by becoming the first Indian to claim a Test hat-trick. Harbhajan dismissed Ricky Ponting (6), Adam Gilchrist (0) and Shane Warne (0) in the 72^nd over of Australia’s first innings at Eden Gardens in Kolkata to send the capacity crowd into frenzy.

Watch: How Harbhajan Singh became the first Indian to claim a Test hat-trick

‘The Turbanator’ returned with figures of 7/123 in the first innings and also played a stellar role in bowling the visitors out in the final two sessions of Day 5 to help India achieve a remarkable 171-run win after being asked to follow on. He got 6 for 73 in the second innings.

“Speaking about my cricket career. My first moment of joy was when I took a hat-trick in Kolkata, becoming the first Indian to do so in Test cricket. During that series, I took 32 wickets in three matches, and it is still a record,” Harbhajan said about his achievement on Friday.

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In the series-deciding last Test of that series, Harbhajan picked up 15 wickets – 7 in the first and 8 in the second – as India won the match by 2 wickets to win the series 2-1.

Harbhajan finished with 707 wickets in 365 international matches.