Paul Valthaty, famously known for his IPL century, retires from all forms of cricket

In 2011, Paul Valthaty became only fourth Indian player to hit a hundred in the Indian Premier League.

The Indian Premier League is one of the most competitive tournaments in the world. It is not easy to score runs against the best in the business. Many big names fail to deliver in this tournament, while some uncapped talent continues to impress everyone with their performances. One such name that made headlines with an IPL century in the 2011 season was the former Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) opener Paul Valthaty.

He scored a century against the Chennai Super Kings in Mohali. It was the ninth game of the 2011 edition, and CSK posted a difficult total of 188/4 in the first innings. Murali Vijay (74 off 43) and S Badrinath (66* off 56) scored half-centuries, while CSK skipper MS Dhoni played an excellent cameo of 43 off 20. But Paul Valthaty helped his team chase down the score in 19.1 overs and smashed a 52-ball century.

Former PBKS star Paul Valthaty retires from all forms of the game

In that game, Paul Valthaty delivered a one-man show and scored an unbeaten 120 runs off just 63 balls, including 19 fours and two sixes, to help his team seal the deal. The second-highest scorer was Dinesh Karthik, with 21 not out. That shows how impactful his innings was that day. However, Valthaty has decided to hang up his boots from all forms of cricket and announced his retirement.

On Monday, the 39-year-old informed about his retirement to Mumbai Cricket Assocaition (MCA). He wrote, "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."

Paul Valthaty had a brilliant 2011 season for PBKS. He finished with 463 runs in 14 innings at an average of 35.61 and a strike rate of 136.98, with one century and two half-centuries. He also took seven wickets with the ball. 2013 was his last season in the IPL. In his IPL career, he played for Punjab and Rajasthan. He is willing to contribute to the development of the game and guide the next generation.

Not many would know that when he smashed his maiden IPL ton, he had a partial loss of vision. He suffered a tragic incident in 2022 during the U19 World Cup in New Zealand when a Bangladesh bowler bowled a bouncer that hit his eye. After his IPL ton, he revealed that it took him two years to recover from that incident, and it was Nari Contractor who helped him, who also had a similar incident in 1962 against the West Indies when a ball hit him on the head.