India women's team batter VR Vanitha announces retirement from all forms of cricket

India women’s team batter VR Vanitha, who represented the country in six women's ODIs and 16 T20Is from 2014 to 2016, on Monday announced retirement from all forms of the game at the age of 31.

She made her announcement via Twitter and India team-mates Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj were among those thanked by the cricketer who made her debut for the national team in an ODI against Sri Lanka in January 2014.

Besides, she thanked her family members, friends, mentor, and other team-mates who had been part of her journey in the sport.

Vanitha also thanked the two-state associations -- Karnataka and Bengal -- that she represented in domestic cricket.

''19 years ago, when I started playing, I was just a little girl who loved sport. Even to this day, my love for cricket remains the same. What's changing is direction. My heart says continue playing, my body says stop and I have decided to listen to the latter. Time is ripe to hang my boots,'' Vanitha said in the post. ''I hereby announce my retirement from all forms of cricket. It's been a journey of struggles, joy, heartbreak, learning and personal milestones. While there are a few regrets, I'm grateful for the opportunities I got, especially to represent India.'' She called her retirement from the game ''not the end but the beginning of a new challenge''.

And this lovely innings comes to an END ! pic.twitter.com/ZJw9ieXHSO — Vanitha VR || (@ImVanithaVR) February 21, 2022

In the limited number of ODIs and T20Is she played, Vanitha scored 85 and 216 runs respectively and was a part of India's squad during the Women's World T20 at home.

During the 2021-22 domestic season, Vanitha guided Bengal to the semi-finals of the Women's Senior One-Day Trophy, scoring 225 runs with knocks of 61 against Andhra and a 71-ball 107 against Hyderabad. She enjoyed a strike rate of over 100 in the tournament.