admintournament.
“This is my last IPL. This has been a fantastic season,” Tendulkar said in a television interview after his team’s victory in the final on Sunday.
The announcement came moments after his team Mumbai Indians lifted their first IPL title on Sunday night, beating the Chennai Super Kings by 23 runs.
The IPL has been dogged by controversy with allegations of spot-fixing against several cricketers and team owners.
In the last fortnight, three bowlers from Rajasthan Royals team and the owner of the Chennai Super Kings team have been arrested.
The tournament’s final match was played in the eastern city of Calcutta.
Tendulkar is the world’s leading scorer in both Test and one-day cricket with an unprecedented 100 international centuries.
He has figured in all six editions of the T20 competition. “I think this is the right time to stop playing the IPL. I am 40. Got to accept it. This is the best point to say thank you very much to all the supporters and well-wishers,” he said. The IPL has been dogged by corruption allegations with three cricketers and some 11 bookmakers among those arrested over spot-fixing, causing outrage in the cricket-mad nation.
Dubbed the “Little Master”, Tendulkar has scored 15 837 runs in 198 Tests with 51 centuries and 18 426 runs in 463 one-day internationals with 49 hundreds.
Tendulkar, who quit one-dayers last year, has played just one T20 international for India, against South Africa at Johannesburg in December 2006.
Tendulkar, who turned 40 last month, has a huge fan base in India. He was the first cricketer to score 100 international centuries. He also holds the record for more test runs than any other player (15,837) and more one-day international (ODI) runs than anyone else (18 426).
Earlier this month, limited edition gold coins with his face engraved on them were launched by an Indian jewellery company. — AFP.
Online Reporter