Kolkata: Bengal pacer Shib Shankar Paul on Monday announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. Paul first made his debut in 2000-01 in a Ranji Trophy game against Tripura at the Eden Gardens under the leadership of Devang Gandhi. His last first class game was against Karnataka in Kolkata in the 2014-15 season, almost 14 years after his debut. On Monday, he hung up his boots after playing his last game for Kalighat club against Mohun Bagan in the final of the P. Sen Trophy. “Every good thing must come to an end. I have decided to quit all forms of cricket,” Paul told reporters at Kolkata. READ: Bengal’s Saurasish Lahiri announces retirement from cricket
Asked what his plans are after retirement, the 34-year-old said: ”I want to want to go into coaching. I am also planning to open an academy for pacers.” Former India captain Sourav Ganguly and Bengal cricketers, including the likes of Manoj Tiwary and Wriddhiman Saha, were present at the event. READ: Laxmi Ratan Shukla gets seat in West Bengal cabinet
Paul picked up 220 first class wickets for Bengal in the 61 matches he played and also pocketed 86 wickets for the same number of matches in the list A format. He has also played eight T20 matches, picking 12 wickets at a miserly economy rate of 5.90. He was also in India’s Test squad for the fourth Test against Australia at Mumbai, in 2004-05. Paul has not played a competitive match since December 2014, with his last First-Class coming against Karnataka. READ: Laxmi Ratan Shukla: Politics was never and will never be my profession
Paul’s limited-overs career was halted in 2008, where he payed his last 50-over match against Saurashtra. He played just one season of T20 cricket, but kept his focus on the longest format ever since.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.