Legendary South African fast bowler Dale Steyn announced his retirement from cricket earlier today. It was a heartbreaking update for all the cricket fans because a player like Steyn comes once in a lifetime. He was a right-arm fast bowler who would trouble the batsmen with his pace and swing.
Many fans believe that Steyn was one of the few bowlers in world cricket to have the pace, the swing and the accuracy. Of late, Steyn proved to be a little expensive with the ball, but there was a time when he ruled the ICC Rankings for Bowlers. Speaking of his statistics in international cricket, Steyn played 93 Test matches, scalping 439 wickets at an economy rate of 3.24.
In the ODI format, Steyn played 125 matches for the South African cricket team, picking up 196 wickets, with his best figures being 6/39. He had a brilliant economy rate of less than five runs per over in his ODI career. Nicknamed as Steyn gun, the right-arm pacer also played 47 T20I matches and took 64 wickets for his country.
He announced his retirement via a social media post, where he wrote:
“It’s been 20 years of training, matches, travel, wins, losses, strapped feet, jet lag, joy, and brotherhood. There are too many memories to tell. Too many faces to thank,” Steyn wrote, quoting lines from the Counting Crows’ A Long December to express himself. “Today I officially retire from the game I love the most. Bitter sweet but grateful.”
AB de Villiers, Virender Sehwag and other star cricketers react after Dale Steyn announced his retirement
Many big names of world cricket took it to Twitter to react to the retirement of Dale Steyn. As mentioned ahead, he is one of the best fast bowlers in the game’s history. Here are some of the top Twitter reactions to Steyn’s retirement:
Congratulations on a fantastic career Dale, it was pleasure to see someone so dominating and terrifying for batsmen. ❤️
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) August 31, 2021
Thank You, Steyn, for all the memories over a decade. A champion bowler.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) August 31, 2021
Great player, great man, amazing memories! U picker a good song to sign off my bud. Legend forever!
— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) August 31, 2021
Go well, great man. You were fire, one of the best the game has seen.
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) August 31, 2021
Congratulations on a wonderful career and all the best with whatever comes next!
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 31, 2021
Good luck brother man ! Best wishes 🙌
— Suresh Raina🇮🇳 (@ImRaina) August 31, 2021
Congrats on a remarkable career. Set the standard for fast bowlers world round to follow for 20 years. No better competitor to watch in full flight, enjoy retirement mate!🏄♂️All time great
— Pat Cummins (@patcummins30) August 31, 2021
All time favourite 🐐
— ایان۔ (@__ayan99__) August 31, 2021
Have a great second innings dale ❤️ pic.twitter.com/sBAvoe1qrg
Wish you a very happy retired life, Dale
— 𝐒𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐤 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧 (@SwastikPrasoon) August 31, 2021
One of the best of his time. We grew up seeing your bowling and replicating your action pic.twitter.com/2kSe2Abw0m
You don’t appreciate what you have until it’s gone 🥺 pic.twitter.com/sp0SA3gk0l
— Seth 🇿🇦 (@CFCSeth_) August 31, 2021
