Siddharth Kaul announces retirement from all cricket in India as he seeks to look for opportunities overseas.
Siddharth Kaul has announced his retirement from Indian cricket 6 years since he last played for India.
However, he remains open to the prospect of playing abroad. Between June 2018 and February 2019, the 34-year-old earned six caps, three each in T20Is and ODIs, to wrap up his international career.
Kaul finished as Punjab’s best wicket-taker with 16 in 10 games during the 2023–24 season, helping them win their first T20 championship and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. In the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy, he also claimed the most wickets (19 in six games).
In the first part of the 2024–25 Ranji Trophy season, Kaul most recently played for Punjab and went wicketless in two games. During his 17-year career, he finished with 297 first-class wickets at an average of 26.77 in 88 games. At an economy rate of 7.67, he also took 182 T20 wickets at 22.04 and 199 List A wickets at 24.30.
At the age of 17, Kaul made his debut for Punjab in first-class cricket. A year later, he made headlines when he played for Virat Kohli’s winning India team at the Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia. But he was sidelined for more than five years due to a series of back ailments.
Only six domestic games in all formats were played by Kaul between December 2007 and February 2012. Along with Manpreet Gony, Sandeep Sharma, and Barinder Sran, he was a member of Punjab’s new generation of fast bowlers upon his comeback.
Kaul has become an important part of Punjab’s white-ball arsenal over the years because to his ability to take wickets and bowl death. He ends up taking the most wickets ever in both the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (120) and the Vijay Hazare Trophy (155).
After two seasons of being a reliable player for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, Kaul’s career reached its zenith in 2018 when he was awarded a T20I cap during the tour of Ireland. He took 16 wickets in 10 games in 2017, and in 2018, when SRH finished second to the Chennai Super Kings, he was the team’s joint-highest wicket-taker with 21.
In the IPL, Kaul played for the Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru in addition to the Sunrisers.