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Cricket Players'You look up to someone who looks like you, wears a patka, plays for India': Panesar calls Harbhajan 'huge inspiration'
Harbhajan Singh announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on Friday and tributes poured in from the cricket fraternity as a stellar career came to an end.
Team India's off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on Friday announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. In a video on his official YouTube channel, Harbhajan confirmed that he is drawing the curtains on a 23-year long career, which included an 18-year stint with the international side. The off-spinner represented India in 103 Tests and 236 ODIs, and was also a part of the side which lifted the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007.
Tributes poured in from the cricket fraternity as Harbhajan retired from the game, and former England spinner Monty Panesar also spoke highly of the ‘Turbanator’, insisting that he was a “huge inspiration” for the Englishman.
"He is one of the great spinners I have always admired and even when I was a youngster. You look up to someone as a youngster who looks like you, who is a spinner, who wears a patka, plays for India and I thought, maybe, I can do the same. He was a huge inspiration for me. " Monty Panesar told ANI.
"It is great to see Indian 'Turbanator' have such a successful career. I think people are going to remember him for the 2001 Test series against Australia which was sort of his introduction to international cricket and it was a phenomenal series. He is one of the most successful bowlers in all formats for India among spinners," Monty Panesar said.
Harbhajan Singh has retired after scalping 417 wickets in 103 Tests at an average of 32.46. The member of 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 World Cup-winning teams is also the first Indian to scalp a test hat-trick.
Overall, Jalandhar-born cricketer has played 367 international games and claimed 711 international wickets and scored 3,569 international runs.
Harbhajan played his last red-ball match against Sri Lanka in 2015 and his last ODI was against South Africa in the same year. His last game for India was a T20I against UAE in the 2016 Asia Cup.
