VR Vanitha the Indian women’s team batsman announces retirement from all forms of cricket
India women’s team batsman VR Vanitha, who represented the country in six women’s ODIs and 16 T20Is from 2014 to 2016, announced her retirement from all forms of the game at the age of 31 on Monday.
She made her announcement via Twitter and the cricketer thanked India teammates Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj, who made her national team debut in January 2014 in an ODI against Sri Lanka.
Furthermore, she thanked her family members, friends, mentors and other teammates who had been a part of her journey in the sport.
Vanitha also thanked the two state associations – Karnataka and Bengal – for representing them in domestic cricket.
“19 years ago, when I started playing, I was just a little girl who loved sports. My love for cricket remains the same even today. What is changing is the direction. My heart says keep playing, my body says stop and I have decided to listen to the latter. It’s time to hang up my shoes,'” Vanitha said in the post. “I hereby announce my retirement from all forms of cricket. It has been a journey of struggle, joy, heartbreak, learning and personal milestones. Although somewhat sorry, I am grateful for the opportunities I have got, especially for representing India.” He called his retirement from the sport “not the end but the beginning of a new challenge”.
Vanitha played a limited number of ODIs and T20Is, with Vanitha scoring 85 and 216 runs respectively and was part of India’s squad during the Women’s World T20 at home.
During the 2021–22 domestic season, Vanitha led Bengal to the semi-finals of the Women’s Senior One-Day Trophy, scoring 225 runs against Andhra with a 71-ball 107 and 61 against Hyderabad. He enjoyed a strike rate of over 100 in the tournament.
