Press Trust of India
Mumbai, Oct 26: Former India pacer Zaheer Khan, who recently retired from international cricket, said here Sunday that he has achieved everything he wanted to in his career spanning 14 years and there was ‘no missing link’ for him to regret.
Zaheer was felicitated by Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) after the match between India and South Africa. He had announced his retirement, October 15.
“I’m going to miss cricket matches and those celebrations with the teammates. But I have to move on, with all those so many happy memories in my career,” he said while addressing the packed crowd in presence of Sachin Tendulkar, former BCCI president Sharad Pawar (now MCA chief) and current board secretary Anurag Thakur.
“I am very happy to retire. I had not thought that I would go this far and achieve so much in my career. I don’t think I have one link missing in my career. I will continue to be associated with the game in future in some capacity or the other,” the Sultan of Swing stated.
Zaheer (called Zak by his mates), who played a lot of cricket for Mumbai and Mumbai Indians in IPL after shifting base from Baroda, was an emotional man in front of the crowd. “I am honoured to stand in front of you and the one word that comes to my mind is that I am humbled and honoured. It has been a great journey made up of wonderful memories,” stated Zaheer.
“It is an emotional moment for me to speak here. I have been overwhelmed by the love and affection shown to me in the last 10 days after retirement,” the left-arm pacer added.
With Tendulkar specially coming for his felicitation, Zaheer could not help but thank the legend. “I thank Sachin for specially coming over for my felicitation. Thank You,” said Zaheer as MI owners Nita and Mukesh Ambani watched from the stands.