Indian pacer announces shocking retirement after going unsold in IPL Auction 2025

Former India star Siddarth Kaul has brought down the curtains on his playing career in Indian cricket at the age of 34, the fast bowler announced on Thursday (November 28).

The right-arm pacer played in the domestic circuit for almost two decades. His career began in 2007 with a first-class game for Punjab against Odisha in Mohali. In 2008, he was a part of the Virat Kohli-led team that won the Under-19 World Cup. In 2018, he made his debut for the National team and played 3 ODIs and as many T20Is.

Siddharth Kaul leaves Indian cricket

While Siddarth Kaul did struggle to break into the national team soon after the Under-19 World Cup, it did not take him long to become a regular in the Punjab side. He made his List A debut for the domestic side in 2009 before making his T20 debut in 2012.

Overall, Siddarth Kaul played 88 first-class games. He picked up 297 wickets with the help of 17 five-wicket hauls. In white-ball cricket, the 34-year-old played 111 List A games and 145 T20s. He picked up 199 wickets in List A cricket and 182 wickets in T20s.

In the 2023-24 season, Siddarth Kaul also won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with Punjab, finishing the campaign as the highest wicket-taker of his team. He was also Punjab's highest wicket-taker in the last edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Even though the veteran pacer has done well in recent times, he has decided to retire from Indian cricket to play overseas. Interestingly, the decision comes just a few days after the IPL 2025 mega auction. His name was not on the list of players that went under the hammer in the auction.

Kaul comes up with an official retirement post

Taking to Instagram, Siddarth Kaul wrote: "When I was a child playing cricket in the fields in Punjab, I had one dream. A dream to represent my country. In 2018, by God's grace, I received my India Cap Number 75 in the T20I team and Cap Number 221 in the ODI team.

"The time has now come to call time on my career in India and announce my retirement," he added.

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Siddarth Kaul's IPL career:

Siddarth Kaul represented three teams in the IPL - Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals), Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He made his IPL debut in 2013 and played his last game in the competition in 2022.

Overall, he played 55 games in the IPL and picked up 58 wickets. In 2017 and 2018, he picked up 37 wickets including 21 wickets in 2018 while representing Sunrisers Hyderabad. The two impressive seasons also helped him earn a call-up from the national team.