Yuzvendra Chahal announces retirement from first-class cricket

Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has announced his retirement from first-class cricket. The 36-year-old veteran shared the news via an emotional Instagram post, marking the end of his red-ball career.

Chahal played his final first-class match at Lord’s for Northamptonshire during the 2026 County Championship. Throughout his first-class career, which began in 2009 with Haryana, he recorded 148 wickets in 49 matches at an average of 32.27. Despite his success in domestic and county cricket, he never achieved his long-held dream of playing Test cricket for India.

While stepping away from the red-ball format, Chahal stated that he is not retiring from the sport entirely. He expressed a continued hunger to represent India and intends to focus his efforts on white-ball cricket, specifically in One Day International (ODI) and T20 formats.