Delhi legend Rajat Bhatia has announced his retirement from all forms of the game, thus bringing down curtains on a career spanning 20 years.
Rajat Bhatia, who was born in Delhi, began his domestic career way back in 1999-2000 season when he plied his trade for Tamil Nadu. He played for the team for two seasons before Delhi came calling. The veteran allrounder went on to become an integral part of the Delhi side and represented the team until 2015 before enjoying short stints with Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.
Overall, he played a total of 112 Ranji games out of which 81 came for his home state Delhi. He scored 4,666 runs and picked up 96 wickets for Delhi. Rajat Bhatia was part of Delhi’s Ranji Trophy title win in 2007-08 season and had hit an unbeaten 139 in the final against Uttar Pradesh. He had scored 512 runs in seven outings in that season as Delhi won their first Ranji title since 1991-92 season. Overall, the veteran allrounder scored 6,482 runs and took 137 wickets in first-class cricket.
He made a mark in white-ball cricket too in domestic circuit. A first-class average of 49.10, with 17 centuries and 30 fifties to his name, Rajat Bhatia scored 3,038 runs in 119 List A games, with 3 tons and 19 fifties at an average of 41.05.
Rajat Bhatia in IPL:
The Delhi legend also enjoyed a long career in IPL. He featured in every single season from the inaugural IPL until the 2017 edition. The 40-year old started his IPL career with Delhi Daredevils before moving to Kolkata Knight Riders in 2011. He was an integral part of the Knight Riders team that won their first IPL title in 2012. He had picked up 12 wickets in that season.
In 2014, Rajasthan Royals splashed a whopping INR 1.7 crore for his services and the player repaid the faith by picking 12 wickets in as many fixtures.