Veteran Indian pacer Lakshmipathy Balaji had decided to retire from his first-class cricket and called off on Thursday. He made his Test debut for India on October 8th, 2003 against New Zealand.

Balaji played the game for 16 long years and proved his skills as a fast bowler. The 34-year-old had played 30 ODIs, 8 tests, and 5 T20Is to his name. In a statement, Balaji said he will continue to play in the Indian Premier League and the Tamil Nadu Premier League but plans to spend more time with his family.

Until and unless if anything major happens in Indian Cricket, Virender Sehwag won’t talk about it. But Balaji’s retirement didn’t stop him from taking to Twitter to say something on his mate.

Viru tweet about the smiling assassin:

Har baat par Smile har koi nahi kar paata,but Laxmi ke Pati Balaji @Lbalaji55 ki Smile ka Jawaab nahi.
Feel proud BB pic.twitter.com/imuubUnaMA

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) September 15, 2016

On his retirement, Balaji quoted, “I have to move on, have a young family now. I have given it all during my 16 years as a first class cricketer. I will be playing in the shorter forms of the game in competitions such as the TNPL and IPL.”

Though he had a very little International career, he left his mark in the prominent India-Pakistan Series in 2004 where he played a crucial role for his side to win the series 2-1.