Bhajji Signs Off

Brut India

Over 700 international wickets and 23 years later, one of India's greatest spinners hung up his boots. Here's what Harbhajan said in his retirement speech...

Transcript

00:00First of all, I was happy when I won the hat-trick in Kolkata.

00:07Like every cricketer, I too wanted to say goodbye to cricket in the India Jersey.

00:11But fate had some other plans.

00:17Now, with new challenges, a new chapter is beginning in my life.

00:30My 25-year journey from the narrow streets of Jalandhar to the Terminator of Team India has been a beautiful one.

00:40Whenever I wore the jersey of India and stepped on the pitch,

00:43there was no bigger motivation than that in my life.

00:48But there comes a point in life when you have to take some tough decisions

00:54and move forward in life.

00:57For the past few years, I wanted to make an announcement.

01:01I was waiting for the moment to share that moment with all of you.

01:07Today, I am retiring from every format of cricket.

01:13Although, mentally, I had already retired.

01:17But I couldn't announce it.

01:19Like every cricketer, I too wanted to say goodbye to cricket in the India Jersey.

01:23But fate had some other plans.

01:25For whichever team I have played for,

01:27I have always had a commitment to finish my team at the top.

01:32I was very happy when I won a hat-trick in Kolkata.

01:36I was the first Indian to win a hat-trick in Test cricket.

01:40I also won 32 wickets in 3 matches in that series.

01:44That is still a record.

01:48After that, the 2007 T20 World Cup

01:51and, of course, the 2011 World Cup

01:54were the most important victories for me.

01:57I will never be able to forget those memorable moments in my life.

02:01I will never be able to express in words how happy I was.

02:05In this journey, I met many people

02:08who are very rare in the world.

02:11Some of them became my friends,

02:13and some became a part of my family.

02:15I would like to thank all those fans

02:19who prayed for me when I was representing the Indian cricket team on the ground.

02:23Cricket was and will be a very important part of my life.

02:27I have served Indian cricket for a long time.

02:31And I will continue to do so.

02:35I don't know what will happen in the future.

02:38But whatever I am today,

02:40is only and only because of cricket.

02:43If I can be of any use to Indian cricket in any role,

02:47then I will be very happy.

02:49Now, with new challenges,

02:51a new chapter is beginning in my life.

02:53Believe me, your Turbonator is ready for the test.

02:57Just keep making love.

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