Karnataka pacer Arvind announces retirement

Bengaluru, February 27: A dash of melancholy laced Karnataka's title win in the Vijay Hazare Trophy as left-arm pacer S Arvind bid adieu to cricket on Tuesday (February 27).

It may be a coincidence that 33-year-old Arvind ended his journey as a cricketer against the same team he made his first-class debut in 2008 - Saurashtra.

Arvind, who occasionally bowled spin too, attributed the retirement to his decision to give more chances to young fast bowlers. In fact, Karnataka had tried youngsters like M Prasidh and T Pradeep in Hazare Trophy with good degree of success.

"I am convinced that I will not be doing justice to young cricketers of Karnataka especially fast bowlers, if I continue to be available for selection for the State. So this will be my last competitive game," Arvind said in a letter to the KSCA.

Though he did not reveal his future course, Arvind said would be more than happy to assist upcoming fast bowlers of Karnataka.

"I would also like to state that I will be more than willing to contribute to Karnataka cricket in whatever way I am asked to in the coming years.

"It would be my pleasure to be associated with the KSCA to nurture and develop cricketing talent in Karnataka especially with regard to fast bowlers," said Arvind.

Arvind, who also represented Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, had played a stellar role Karnataka's title wins in the domestic seasons 2013-14 and 2014-15 and got selected for India in 2014. However, a knee injury limited his international appearance to just one T20I against South Africa in Dharamshala in 2015.

Statistics

T20I: M: 1, Wkt: 1

First-class: M: 56. Wkts: 186. B: 5/49

List A: M: 41: Wkts: 57. B: 4/41

T20s: M: 84. Wkts: 103. B: 4/14

IPL: M: 38. Wkts: 45. B: 4/14