South African pace bowler Dale Steyn on Saturday announced through Twitter that he has made himself unavailable for the upcoming IPL 2021. But the pacer also clarified that he doesn’t intend to play for any other club rather wrote that he is taking some time off and, is not retired and will play in other leagues.
Steyn’s season with the RCB in IPL 2020 was not a great one as he played only three games with one wicket and conceding runs at an economy of 11.40.
The Bangalore-based Indian Premier League franchise reacted to this decision by thanking him for the memories and wrote, “You will be missed, Dale Steyn! Thank you for the memories and keep rooting for us,” on the official Twitter handle of RCB.
Dale Steyn was signed by the Bangalore-based IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore for the 2020 edition which took place in UAE due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Dale Steyn is in his second extended spell with the Royal Challengers Bangalore, the franchise with whom he started his IPL career within 2008, coming in as an injury replacement for Nathan Coulter-Nile in the midway through the 2019 edition. He was picked again for the 2020 edition of IPL but unfortunately, managed only one wicket.
After a good season as compared to earlier ones, RCB finished fourth on the table after getting eliminated in the playoffs by Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Dale Steyn retired from Test cricket in 2019 as South Africa’s highest wicket-taker in Test cricket, the longest format of the game. Steyn has picked up 196 wickets in 125 matches at an average of 25.95 and with a strike rate of 31.9 so far.
Steyn was recently seen in action in the Lanka Premier League (LPL), where he represented the Kandy Tuskers.
