KATHMANDU: Spinner Raju Basnyat retired from cricket ending the 16-year-long career as a player. The Region-III (Kathmandu) team regular and coach-cum-player for the last two tournaments, Basnyat played his last match against Region-IV (Bhairahawa) in the final of the Springwood Twenty20 National Cricket Tournament here at the TU Stadium today. Basnyat took two wickets in Kathmandu’s three-run win and took the tournament tally to 11 wickets in six matches. “I retired as a player but I cannot stay away from cricket,” said Basnyat. “I have invested my 20 years in cricket and now I will pursue coaching career and will keep in contributing to the sport,” said the 30-year-old Basnyat, who has already completed the Level 1 (ACC) and Level 2 (Australia) coaching courses. “It is not an easy decision but I think I have made a right decision on right time. I played for 16 long years. As there are no tournaments till 2011 and as Nepal are aiming for the 2015 World Cup, I think I cannot go that long,” he said. “If I continue playing national tournaments only, it would only block the youngsters from coming up,” he justified. Basnyat rated his cricketing career as a successful one. “In national cricket, I have taken wickets in almost every match and I have also made records. I am the first bowler who achieved the milestone of taking 50 wickets in national tournaments,” he said. Basnyat, with 57 wickets, is second in the highest wicket-taker’s list. Region-II skipper Binod Das is on top with 59. “We have not lost any national tournament for the last two years,” he added. “In international cricket, I did not get too many opportunities but I have performed well in the matches I played. In my evaluation, I have contributed to the Nepali cricket,” said Basnyat. Basnyat was the vice captain of the Nepali team in the ICC Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2000 and he twice represented Nepal in the ACC U-19 Tournament. He was also the member of Emerging Nations Cup in 2003 and was a part of ACC Trophy in 2006. In the senior one-day cricket, Basnyat’s memorable moment came in 2003 when he took 7-5 against Bhutan in Emerging Nations Cup in Kathmandu. He also represented the nation in ACC’s three-day tournaments. He took 8-224 in 100.2 overs in eight matches at an average of 28 with the best bowling figure of 3-27. The left-arm spinner said he earned the identity from cricket. “I have gained lots of things from cricket. It is an honour itself to get the opportunity to play for Nepal. I got the chance to play for Nepal,” he said. “Nobody would have known me if I was not a cricketer. Today people know me just because of cricket and I earned lots friends.” In national cricket, Basnyat scored 304 runs at an average of 16.89 with the highest score on 50 not out against Biratnagar. In 29 matches, he took 55 wickets in 216.4 overs at an average of 13.29 with the best bowling figure of 5-15.