Varun Chopra retires from professional cricket

The 34-year-old made 425 career appearances across all formats, scoring 17,995 runs, and won the County Championship and T20 Blast with both Essex and Warwickshire

Batter Varun Chopra has announced his retirement from professional cricket.

The 34-year-old made 425 career appearances across all formats, scoring 17,995 runs, including 34 centuries and 98 half-centuries.

An Essex academy graduate, Chopra made his first-class debut for the county in 2006 before moving to Warwickshire in 2010, with whom he won the 2012 County Championship and 2014 T20 Blast.

He returned to Essex on loan in 2016 before re-joining on a permanent basis in 2017 and went on to win two further County Championship titles (2017, 2019), the 2019 T20 Blast, and the 2020 Bob Willis Trophy.

Chopra also enjoyed loan spells at Sussex and Middlesex, spending the 2021 white-ball season with the latter.

Commenting on his retirement, Essex’s executive chairman, John Faragher, said: "I would like to thank Varun for his contribution to Essex CCC during his two terms for the club. I wish him all the very best with the best stage of his career journey, the skills he has developed as an opening batter will see him well in the coming years.

"Varun will always be a welcome visitor at Chelmsford, and we look forward to seeing him whenever time permits."