Jeet Raval Calls Time on 18-Year Career With Over 10,000 First-Class Runs

Official Retirement: Former Black Caps Test opener Jeet Raval has officially called time on his 18-season professional cricket career ahead of the 2026/27 domestic summer. Black Caps Career: Born in Gujarat, India, Raval emigrated to New Zealand as a teenager and earned 24 Test caps for the national side between 2016 and 2020. He amassed 1,143 Test runs, including a top score of 132 against Bangladesh.

Domestic Legend: Raval finishes as a decorated stalwart in New Zealand domestic cricket, having represented Auckland, the Central Stags, and Northern Districts. 10,000+ First-Class Runs: Over a distinguished career, Raval surpassed 10,400 first-class runs across 164 matches, recording 24 centuries.

Trophy Sweep: He won national domestic titles across all three formats, including four Plunket Shield red-ball titles, three Ford Trophy One-Day titles, and four Super Smash T20 crowns—captaining Northern Brave to the T20 title in 2025/26.

"I remember there being a lot of external pressure to score a hundred, but internally, Kane [Williamson], Ross [Taylor] and the other senior players never made it feel like I hadn't scored a hundred. They always made me feel like I was contributing, which was huge, and made me feel quite at ease. In the latter part of my career, I sort of had my form fall away in a series against England and a big series in Australia - a place we hadn't toured for years.

"I think I had a couple of games where I didn't quite perform where I was required to perform. And then, unfortunately, they [team management] decided to go another way... I was disappointed, but also happy that somebody else did the job that the team needed at the time."

In List A cricket, Raval featured in 96 games, scoring 2714 runs at an average of 30.15. In T20s, he made 1484 runs at an average of 21.50 and a strike rate of 121.44.

More recently, during the latter stages of his career, Raval had a crack at coaching, being an assistant to head coach Tarun Nethula with the Samoa team. Off the field, Raval has been practicing as a chartered accountant for an auditing firm, which will likely be his full-time job for now.