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Shahbaz Nadeem, the Indian left-arm spinner, has announced his retirement from international and First-Class cricket, talking about how he may not get a chance to play for the country again, which prompted him to take the tough decision. Notably, the 34-year-old competed in only two Tests in his international career after making a debut against South Africa in 2019.
In his two Test appearances for India, Shahbaz Nadeem picked up eight wickets, at an average of 34.50 and strike-rate of 57.2, with the best figures of 4/40. He is best known for his exploits in domestic cricket, picking up 542 wickets in First-Class cricket, along with 175 and 125 wickets in List A and T20 formats respectively.
After playing his final First-Class match against Rajasthan in the ongoing Ranji season, Shahbaz Nadeem gave an interview to ESPNcricinfo, talking about his decision to retire from all three formats of cricket. He was quoted as saying, “I was considering my decision of retirement for a long time and now I have decided that I am retiring from all three formats.”
“I always feel that when you have some motivation then you always keep motivating yourself to perform well. However now when I know that I may not get a chance in the Indian team then it is better that I give a chance to the young cricketers. Also now I am also planning to play in T20 leagues around the world,” he added.
During the peak of his domestic career, Shahbaz Nadeem was the leading wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons. He was also the leading wicket-taker in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018, and in one of the matches for Jharkhand against Rajasthan, he picked up eight wickets while giving away just 10 runs.
