Paul Valthaty, who shot to fame with IPL century for Kings XI Punjab, retires from first-class cricket

Paul Valthaty, former Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) and Mumbai batter, announced retirement from first-class cricket on Tuesday. Valthaty had begun his List A career with Mumbai, during the Ranji One Day Trophy game against Baroda, before making a move to Himachal Pradesh, for whom he played five first-class matches.

Valthaty scored 120 runs in five matches while also taking one wicket.

Valthaty announced his decision in an e-mail to the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA).

“I was extremely lucky and proud to have represented many teams in my career from India Blue in the Challenger trophy, India U-19 and the Mumbai Senior team and all age group teams. I would take this opportunity to thank The BCCI and MCA who have always been supportive to me and many such cricketers like me,” the 39-year-old wrote in the mail, The Indian Express reported.

“I would also like to thank the IPL and both my teams Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings who I had the good fortune of representing and was the first player from Mumbai and the 4th Indian to score a century in the IPL,” he added.

Paul Valthaty had a productive IPL career that included stints with Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals. Valthaty had a breakout season with KXIP in 2011, where he scored 463 runs from 14 matches, including an unbeaten 120 against Chennai Super Kings.

However, little did people know about Valthaty’s partial vision loss, during the 2002 U-19 World Cup. Paul was facing a short ball against a Bangladesh bowler when he was hit on the eye, and flew back to India with a bandaged eye.

Post the 2013 edition of the IPL, where he played just one match and scored six runs, Valthaty did not find takers for the 2014 season, as the league continued to nurture young talents.