Karn Sharma calls time on India and domestic career

Leg-spinner Karn Sharma has announced his retirement from international and Indian domestic circuits. The 38-year-old made the announcement after Saturday night's game between Kanpur Superstars and Meerut Mavericks in the ongoing UPT20 League. Representing Superstars, Karn went wicketless in two overs, conceding 28 runs at an economy rate of 14.00 and scoring three runs before getting run out.

"I now want to retire... I am extremely grateful to my family, BCCI, Railways, UPCA, Andhra, Vidarbha Cricket Association and everyone who has supported me throughout this journey," Karn said. "After this, I will be available for coaching and other responsibilities related to the game of cricket."

Karn began his professional cricketing journey in 2007-08 with debuts in first-class, List A and T20 cricket. He scored a century (120) on his Ranji Trophy debut against Jammu & Kashmir in Delhi. His persistent toil in the domestic circuit was rewarded when Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) bid INR 3.75 crore at the IPL 2014 auction to rope him in. At the time, it was the highest price paid by a team for an uncapped Indian at an IPL auction.

Karn made his T20I debut against England in Birmingham on September 7, 2014 and bagged figures of 1/28 in four overs, dismissing Joe Root. He went wicketless (0/64) on his ODI debut against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens, the same match where Rohit Sharma scored his career-best of 264 off 173 balls. 

His only Test appearance came against Australia at the Adelaide Oval in December 2014, where he claimed four scalps, including Michael Clarke and David Warner. Karn is one of only three players to win a hat-trick of IPL titles, with Suyash Sharma and Phil Salt being the other two. He claimed the feat with three different teams: SRH (2016), Mumbai Indians (2017) and Chennai Super Kings (2018). His last IPL appearance came for Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2025.

Karn finishes his first-class career with 270 wickets in 97 games, averaging 27.60, including 14 five-fors. He also amassed 2866 runs at 22.74 with two hundreds and 17 fifties. The Meerut-born claimed 153 wickets in 123 List A games, averaging 31.01 at an economy rate of 4.79 with the help of three five-wicket hauls. He also aggregated 1827 List A runs, averaging 23.12 at a strike rate of 96.76, including a hundred and six half-centuries.