New Delhi: Indian bowler and star paceman Ishwar Pandey, who you must remember from IPL in the Chennai Super Kings squad, announced his retirement from professional cricket on Tuesday via an emotional Instagram post.
Pandey was quite close to donning the blue jersey after his striking performance in the tournament, though his dream could not turn into reality despite hard efforts.
In nearly 75 first-class matches in his career, the paceman hailing from Madhya Pradesh had garnered a total of 263 wickets in his kitty and was also a part of Central Zone n domestic cricket.
Pandey wrote in his Instagram post, “Today the day has come and with a heavy heart, I have decided to retire from International and First class cricket. I began this incredible journey in 2007 and till date I have enjoyed every single moment spent on and off the field”.
“Going back to my early days from how I started to see myself to reach where I am today is immensely satisfying. I feel proud and blessed that I have achieved a bit in my life. Coming from a very small town and to be the first one to make it to the Indian cricket team from Rewa (MP) was always a dream and to achieve that will always be my biggest achievement”, the post read.
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“To share dressing room with modern day greats like Virat Kohli M S Dhoni Yuvraj Singh Suresh Raina Ishant Sharma Ravindra Jadeja Bhuvneshwar Kumar was very special and to have played a match against Legend Sachin Tendulkar Sir was like a dream come true. I started watching cricket because of him and I have always admired him since my childhood”, it said.
The latter ended the note with an emotional tribute to his family for their support.
Previously, in an interview with a leading Hindi daily, Pandey had said, “Had Dhoni given me a chance my career would have been something else. I was 23-24 years old at that time and my fitness was great. Had Dhoni given me a chance to play for India and if I had performed then my career would have been different”.
