NEW DELHI: Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar has announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL), saying it was the "right time" to stop playing the Twenty20 tournament.
"This is my last IPL. This has been a fantastic season," Tendulkar said in a television interview after his team's victory in the final on Sunday.
Tendulkar is the world's leading scorer in both Test and one-day cricket with an unprecedented 100 international centuries.
He has figured in all six editions of the T20 competition.
"I think this is the right time to stop playing the IPL. I am 40. Got to accept it. This is the best point to say thank you very much to all the supporters and well-wishers," he said.
The IPL has been dogged by corruption allegations with three cricketers and some 11 bookmakers among those arrested over spot-fixing, causing outrage in the cricket-mad nation.
Dubbed the "Little Master", Tendulkar has scored 15,837 runs in 198 Tests with 51 centuries and 18,426 runs in 463 one-day internationals with 49 hundreds.
Tendulkar, who quit one-dayers last year, has played just one T20 international for India, against South Africa at Johannesburg in December 2006.
AFP did not cover the recent IPL after the Board of Control for Cricket in India failed to lift restrictions on picture agencies.
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