Kolkata : Two days after he was named in the Bengal squad, former captain and veteran all-rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla on Wednesday announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. “For last one month, I was not getting the right motivation… Not feeling myself, the link was missing,” the most-capped Bengal player said in a news conference with his six-year-old son Agastya on Wednesday afternoon at his club Mohun Bagan. “Mentally, I was not ready to play again. I started having this feeling for about a month and was not able to sleep properly. Now I can sleep peacefully,” the 34-year-old player added in his emotional speech with his son hugging him.
Shukla, however said he would be available for his club if Bagan feel his ‘service is needed’. Shukla said he had decided two days’ ago as he also circulated a copy of his letter to Cricket Association of Bengal president Sourav Ganguly dated on Tuesday. The ace all-rounder, who had played three ODIs for India scoring 18 runs and picking up a wicket, was named Sunday in Bengal’s 16-member squad for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The announcement came on the eve of Bengal’s departure for their group A league matches of the Syed Mushtaq Ali domestic Twenty20 tournament. It is learnt that Shukla took the ‘drastic’ decision as a fallout of his meeting with Ganguly, who was unhappy with Bengal’s group stage elimination from the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day tournament. Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary was also present in the meeting.
