Delhi fast bowler Amit Bhandari says good bye to Indian domestic cricket – Cricket News
The 32-year old former Delhi fast bowler, Amit Bhandari, has proclaimed his decision to quit Indian domestic cricket in the backdrop of his fitness issues.
Bhandari, who played his last first-class game in 2008, has served India in two One-day internationals (ODIs) in which he picked up five wickets at a strike rate of a little over 21. The right-arm medium pacer made his ODI debut in 2000 against Pakistan.
After a long gap of over four years, Bhandari got another chance to represent his country when he played his second and the last ODI in 2004 against Zimbabwe.
Although, Bhandari performed reasonably well at international level, he never got successful in cementing his place in the national side. The veteran campaigner has participated in 95 first-class matches and claimed 314 wickets. In 105 List A games, Bhandari
has 153 scalps to his credit.
Announcing his retirement, Bhandari said, "I have had a shoulder surgery and when I shifted to Goa, I missed a whole season due to dengue. At the start of this season, I wasn''t being able to motivate myself. Therefore this is an ideal moment to call it
quits."
Furthermore, he expressed his disappointment over not being able to make it to any of the Indian Premier League outfits during the last four seasons.
"Even if you are out of national reckoning, you feel that IPL can keep you motivated as one competes with the best. I wasn''t finding anything specific that would keep me motivated. So it''s about time that I don''t block a junior''s place," the lanky pacer
added.
Meanwhile, he seemed a touch sad that he could not play enough international cricket. Expressing his concerns over Indian selection criteria, Bhandari described that he is clueless why he was given proper chances to represent his country despite taking a
lot of wickets in the domestic tournament.
When asked about the memorable moments of his first-class career, Bhandari stated that taking 300th first-class wicket and the figures of 7/92 in a Ranji trophy match were the two occasions which he would never be able to forget.
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