Over 700 international wickets and 23 years later, one of India's greatest spinners hung up his boots. Here's what Harbhajan said in his retirement speech...
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00:00First of all, I was happy when I won the hat-trick in Kolkata.
00:07Like every cricketer, I too wanted to say goodbye to cricket in the India Jersey.
00:11But fate had some other plans.
00:17Now, with new challenges, a new chapter is beginning in my life.
00:30My 25-year journey from the narrow streets of Jalandhar to the Terminator of Team India has been a beautiful one.
00:40Whenever I wore the jersey of India and stepped on the pitch,
00:43there was no bigger motivation than that in my life.
00:48But there comes a point in life when you have to take some tough decisions
00:54and move forward in life.
00:57For the past few years, I wanted to make an announcement.
01:01I was waiting for the moment to share that moment with all of you.
01:07Today, I am retiring from every format of cricket.
01:13Although, mentally, I had already retired.
01:17But I couldn't announce it.
01:19Like every cricketer, I too wanted to say goodbye to cricket in the India Jersey.
01:23But fate had some other plans.
01:25For whichever team I have played for,
01:27I have always had a commitment to finish my team at the top.
01:32I was very happy when I won a hat-trick in Kolkata.
01:36I was the first Indian to win a hat-trick in Test cricket.
01:40I also won 32 wickets in 3 matches in that series.
01:44That is still a record.
01:48After that, the 2007 T20 World Cup
01:51and, of course, the 2011 World Cup
01:54were the most important victories for me.
01:57I will never be able to forget those memorable moments in my life.
02:01I will never be able to express in words how happy I was.
02:05In this journey, I met many people
02:08who are very rare in the world.
02:11Some of them became my friends,
02:13and some became a part of my family.
02:15I would like to thank all those fans
02:19who prayed for me when I was representing the Indian cricket team on the ground.
02:23Cricket was and will be a very important part of my life.
02:27I have served Indian cricket for a long time.
02:31And I will continue to do so.
02:35I don't know what will happen in the future.
02:38But whatever I am today,
02:40is only and only because of cricket.
02:43If I can be of any use to Indian cricket in any role,
02:47then I will be very happy.
02:49Now, with new challenges,
02:51a new chapter is beginning in my life.
02:53Believe me, your Turbonator is ready for the test.
02:57Just keep making love.