Karuna Jain announces retirement from all formats

Former India wicketkeeper-batter Karuna Jain has announced her retirement from all formats of cricket. She played 44 ODIs, five Tests and nine T20Is for India between 2004 and 2014.

"With a lot of happy and satisfied feelings, I am able to make this announcement of my retirement from all forms of cricket and looking forward to contributing back to the game," Jain, 36, wrote in a post on Instagram.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been a part of my cricketing journey from the very beginning to all my coaches, support staff and my team-mates whose (sic) been a part throughout my career. Each one of them has taught me something different about the game and life that made me the player and person I am today. It's been an incredible journey I've been able to have and it would not have been possible without everyone who supported me during my ups and downs."

Jain scored an unbeaten 68 on ODI debut - becoming just the fifth Indian woman to get a fifty on debut - against West Indies in Lucknow in 2004. It is still the third-highest score in women's ODIs by a wicketkeeper-batter on debut - behind Reshma Gandhi (104*) and Anju Jain (84*) - in women's ODIs. She is also one of only two wicketkeepers to have scored a women's ODI hundred for India - Gandhi being the other. She still holds the record of being the fourth-youngest Indian woman to score an ODI hundred.

"My family being the biggest support and my brother being a cricketer himself made it easy and challenging for me to adopt the game and deliver the best in every time I stepped onto the grounds," Jain wrote. "I could continue to play the sport and contribute for a very long time because of unflinching support and sacrifices done by them."

Jain's 58 dismissals as a wicketkeeper are third-most for India in women's ODIs. While she played for Karnataka for a large part of her domestic career, she also played for Air India, for Nagaland in 2018-19, and then for Puducherry in her final couple of seasons. She also picked up eight wickets with her offbreaks in domestic white-ball cricket.

She was part of the 2005 Women's World Cup squad - where India finished runners-up - as a back-up wicketkeeper. She played the Women's World Cup in 2013 and the Women's T20 World Cup in 2014.