The veteran pacer said that he has been lucky enough to play alongside the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli in his career.

Pacer Vinay Kumar on Friday announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.

"Today "Davangere Express" after running for 25 years and passing so many stations of cricketing life, has finally arrived to a station called "retirement". With a lot of mixed emotions, I Vinay Kumar R hereby announce my retirement from international and first-class cricket. It is not an easy decision to make, however, there comes a time in every sportsperson's life where one has to call it a day," Vinay Kumar said in an official statement on Twitter.

Thankyou all for your love and support throughout my career. Today I hang up my boots. ️ #ProudIndian pic.twitter.com/ht0THqWTdP

— Vinay Kumar R (@Vinay_Kumar_R) February 26, 2021

The veteran pacer also said that he has been lucky enough to play alongside the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli in his career.

"My cricketing experience has been enriched by playing under the great minds of Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni, Virendra Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma to name the few. Also, I was blessed to have Sachin Tendulkar as a mentor in Mumbai Indians," the pacer said.

"I have been fortunate enough to represent my country at the highest level and give it all I had to this beautiful game. My journey has been filled with many moments that I will cherish lifelong. I came to Bangalore from Davangere to pursue my dreams. I am very grateful to Karnataka State Cricket Association for giving me the opportunity to represent the state team. From here I went on to play for India and represented the nation in all the formats of the game," he added.

Vinay Kumar played for India in all three formats of the game. In his career, he played 1 Test, 31 ODIs and 9 T20Is for the country, managing to take 49 wickets across all formats of the game.

His best figures in his international career came in the ODI format where he returned with the figures of 4/30 against England in Delhi in 2011.

Vinay Kumar played for Kolkata Knight Riders, Kochi Tuskers Kerela in the Indian Premier League. He also led Karnataka to two consecutive Ranji Trophy titles in 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.

In November 2018, he had played his 100th match in the Ranji Trophy. In 2019, he had moved from Karnataka to Puducherry, ahead of the Ranji Trophy season.