Virat Kohli Hails Dale Steyn As Latter Retires From Test Cricket

Dale Steyn, on Monday, brought down curtains on his illustrious Test career with immediate effect. The right-arm pacer will go down in history as one of the greatest Test pacers of all time. Dale Steyn made his Test debut in 2004 against England and went on to make 93 appearances in the red-ball format. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for South Africa in Tests.

But the last couple of years have been very harsh on him. Steyn has been laid low by a spate of injuries in recent times. In December 2015, he injured his shoulder in the Durban Test versus England and was ruled out of the rest of the rubber. He injured his shoulder again during the Perth Test in 2016. Steyn returned for the Test series against India in 2018, but only to sustain a heel injury in Cape Town.

He made a successful comeback to the Test arena during the 2018-19 season, playing against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. But he suffered another shoulder problem during the IPL 2019 and subsequently, couldn’t play in the World Cup due to the injury. Steyn will now be looking to regain his fitness and focus on his white-ball career.

Meanwhile, tributes poured in from all corners as soon as Steyn announced his retirement. Steyn’s IPL teammate and India skipper Virat Kohli also paid a glowing tribute to him. The Royal Challengers Bangalore star hailed Steyn as a true champion, tweeting:

“A true champion of the game. Happy retirement to the pace machine @DaleSteyn62 ,”

A true champion of the game.
Happy retirement to the pace machine @DaleSteyn62 ???

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) August 5, 2019

Steyn finishes his career with 439 scalps at an average of just 22.95. He picked up 26 five-wicket hauls, including game-changing spells on subcontinental wickets of Karachi, Nagpur and Galle. He also played a big role in South Africa’s historic Test series win in Australia in 2008-09.  Steyn was ranked the No. 1 Test bowler for a record 263 weeks between 2008 and 2014. He won the ICC’s Test Cricketer of the Year award in 2008 and was one of Wisden’s cricketers of the year in 2013.