Umar Gul Retires From All Forms Of Cricket

Umar Gul, one of Pakistan’s greatest-ever white-ball bowler’s career has come to an end following the culmination of his National T20 campaign with Balochistan’s first XI.

Gul had announced prior to the start of the tournament that he would drawing curtains on his decade-and-a-half old career post the domestic T20 tournament.

A veteran of Pakistan cricket, Umar Gul made his ODI and Test debut against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe respectively in 2003 but it was his five-wicket-haul against a star-studded Indian batting line-up in Lahore during the 2004 series that shot the fast bowler into stardom.

But, it was his exploits in white-ball cricket and especially the shortest format of the game-Twenty20- that made Umar Gul one of the superstars of the modern era.Gul was the leading wicket-taker in both the 2007 (13 wickets in 7 games at an average of 11.92) and the triumphant 2009 T20 World Cup (13 wickets in 7 games at an average of 12.15).

He also remains the fifth-highest wicket-taker (35 wickets in 24 games at an average of 17.25), which includes barely believable figures of 5-6 against New Zealand in the 2009 event.The reverse-swing specialist, who claimed 14 wickets in the 2011 World Cup, last played for Pakistan in an ODI against England in 2016.Overall, Umar Gul featured in 47 Tests, 130 ODIs, and 60 T20Is, claiming 163, 179, and 85 wickets respectively. As far as his domestic numbers are concerned, Gul claimed 479 scalps in FC cricket (in 125 games), 286 wickets in 213 List-A games, and 222 dismissals in 167 T20s. In the ongoing T20 Cup, Umar Gul finished with 7 wickets in 6 games.