Karn Sharma calls time in the UP T20 League after nineteen seasons

Karn Sharma announced his retirement from all cricket on Sunday night, in the middle of a state T20 league rather than through a board release. He is 38. The leg-spinner spoke after Kanpur Superstars lost to Meerut Mavericks by nine wickets. It was a fourth-season fixture in the UP T20 League. He will play once more, on Tuesday, against the same side.

"I just want to retire," he told the broadcast. "I will be playing my last game on Tuesday, and I will be retiring from all formats." That match is in Lucknow, at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.

Nineteen seasons, four caps

Karn played four times for India. One Test, two one-day internationals, one Twenty20 international. The Test was at Adelaide in 2014. He took two wickets in each innings there. In the T20 international he dismissed Joe Root. The two one-day matches brought him nothing.

The domestic record is a different document. He took 270 first-class wickets in 97 matches at 27.60. Fourteen of those were five-wicket hauls. He also scored 2,866 runs with two centuries. Few Indian spinners of his generation finished with a first-class return that heavy and four caps to show for it.

The career in numbers

• First-class: 270 wickets in 97 matches at 27.60, fourteen five-fors
• First-class batting: 2,866 runs, two hundreds, seventeen fifties
• List A: 153 wickets in 123 matches
• Twenty20: 168 wickets in 191 matches
• Indian Premier League: 83 wickets in 90 appearances
• India: 1 Test, 2 ODIs, 1 T20I

Three franchises, three seasons

Karn won the IPL with Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016. Mumbai Indians followed in 2017. Chennai Super Kings came in 2018. Three titles, three sides, three years. He added a fourth with Chennai in 2021.

He was rarely the first-choice spinner. He was the one teams wanted in the squad. That is a specific kind of career. It does not show up in a batting average.

Railways, Andhra, Vidarbha, UPCA

"To all those who supported me, I just want to say thanks," Karn said. "My family, the BCCI, Railways, UPCA, Andhra, and all those who have supported me in this journey, I am really grateful."

Four of those five are domestic associations. He moved between them across nineteen seasons. That is ordinary for an Indian domestic professional. It is also invisible from outside. He has said he wants to coach.

Tuesday's match in Lucknow is a league fixture with nothing riding on it beyond the table. It is also the last time he bowls in a competitive game.