Siddarth Kaul announces retirement from Indian cricket, open to playing overseas

Siddarth Kaul. (Philip Brown/Getty Images)

Seamer Siddarth Kaul announced retirement from Indian cricket on November 28, 2024. The 34-year-old has played six international games – three ODI and T20I matches respectively and picked up four wickets. The Punjab-born made his international debut in 2018 against England in Nottingham and his last appearance was against Australia in Bengaluru in 2019.

Kaul featured in 88 first class, 111 List A and 145 T20 games. He represented Punjab in domestic cricket and was part of the squad in the ongoing Ranji Trophy before calling his time in Indian cricket. He was also part of the Punjab squad that won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy which won the championship earlier in the year. He also picked up 19 wickets in six matches in the 2023-24 Vijay Hazare Trophy and was Punjab’s highest wicket-taker.

The cricketer was a key part of Punjab’s domestic set-up, particularly in white-ball cricket, as he made a name for himself for being a death-over specialist. With 155 and 120 wickets respectively, Kaul also finished as the leading wicket-taker for Punjab in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy respectively.

When I was a child playing cricket in the fields in Punjab, I had one dream. A dream to represent my country. In 2018, by Gods grace, I received my India Cap Number 75 in the T20i team and Cap Number 221 in the ODI team.

The time has now come to call time on my career in India… pic.twitter.com/XiNQ0NBqou

— Siddharthh Kaul (@iamsidkaul) November 28, 2024

Kaul open to overseas opportunities after international retirement

After announcing his retirement from Indian cricket, Kaul announced that he is open to playing overseas cricket. The cricketer mentioned that he still has 3-4 years of cricket left in him and has done well in the recent past across formats and want to finish his career on a higher note.

“I feel I still have 3-4 years of cricket left in me, but I wanted to go out on a high, when I was at peak fitness and performing well rather than being asked to go due to fitness or non-performance at some other point,” Kaul told ESPNcricinfo.

“If you see my graph over the past 9-10 years, I’ve been performing really well across formats. So I felt this was a good time to go. Hopefully going forward, whatever opportunities arise, like in county cricket, or Legends League, MLC etc, I’d like to explore them if I get the chance,” he added.