India’s Zaheer Khan retires from international cricket ‘with immediate effect’

Zaheer Khan took 311 wickets on 92 Test matches for India. Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP Photo

MUMBAI // India fast bowler Zaheer Khan announced his retirement from international cricket but says he will continue to play the domestic Twenty20 form of the game.

The 37-year-old left-arm paceman, a part of India’s 50-over World Cup-winning team in 2011, last played for the country in a Test match in New Zealand in February last year.

“With immediate effect, I bid adieu to my career in international cricket.

“I look forward to signing off my last season in domestic cricket at the conclusion of Indian Premier League season 9,” Zaheer said on his official Facebook page.

Zaheer, who played the first of his 92 Tests against Bangladesh in 2000, has been hampered with injuries in the last few years.

He took 311 Test wickets and 282 in one-day internationals, the fourth highest totals in both formats for India.

Meanwhile, India’s manager Vinod Phadke has been fined 40 per cent of his undisclosed match fees for making “inappropriate comments” about umpire Vineet Kulkarni, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said.

Phadke was quoted in local media as saying that wrong decisions by Kulkarni were to blame for India’s defeat to South Africa in the Twenty20 match in Dharamsala on October 2 and the first one-dayer in Kanpur on October 11. India lost both matches.

Phadke was found to have breached the ICC Code of Conduct for players and support staff which relates to “public criticism or inappropriate comments” against a match official, the ICC said in a statement.

ICC match referee Chris Broad conducted a formal hearing after Wednesday’s second one-dayer in Indore since Phadke pleaded not guilty to the charge, the statement added.

Indian team managers are appointed on a series-by-series basis to help in administrative matters while the coaching staff concentrate on cricketing issues.

India’s Kulkarni, 36, has been umpiring international matches since 2012 and has officiated in 19 one-day internationals and seven Twenty20 matches.

India are the only Test-playing nation that opposes the use of Decision Review System for umpires during bilateral matches, insisting the technology used is not 100 per cent accurate.

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @NatSportUAE