Karn Sharma calls time on international and Indian domestic career

Karn Sharma has called time on his international and Indian domestic career at the age of 38, bringing the curtain down on a career that saw the legspinner represent India across all three formats. The Railways cricketer announced his decision on Saturday (August 22) night following the UP T20 League game between Kanpur Superstars and Meerut Mavericks. He will make his final appearance for Kanpur in their last match of the Lucknow leg on August 25.

Karn had a brief but memorable international career. He played one Test, two ODIs, and a T20I for India, all in 2014. After a fine IPL season in 2014, in which he took 15 wickets at an economy rate of 7.42, he made his T20I debut in Birmingham and dismissed Joe Root. He then made his ODI debut in Kolkata, a game made famous by Rohit Sharma's record-breaking 264. A month later, in his Test captaincy debut, Virat Kohli famously picked Karn over Ravichandran Ashwin for the Adelaide Test. Karn managed four wickets in that Test but didn't feature again for India.

His domestic career, however, stretched across nearly two decades. He made his first-class debut for Railways in 2007 and also had stints with Andhra and Vidarbha before returning to Railways. He also became a regular presence in the IPL, winning four titles during his career, including three in a row between 2016 and 2018 – for Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai Indians, and Chennai Super Kings, respectively.

Announcing his decision, Karn wrote: "I now want to retire… I am extremely grateful to my family, BCCI, Railways, UPCA, Andhra, Vidarbha Cricket Association and everyone who has supported me throughout this journey," Karn, 38, said while making the announcement. "After this, I will be available for coaching and other responsibilities related to the game of cricket."

In all, Karn played 97 first-class games, taking 270 wickets. He also scored 2866 runs with two hundreds, including one on his Ranji Trophy debut against Jammu & Kashmir.