“Realised this is the right time,” Pakistani batter Azhar Ali announces retirement from Test cricket
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Azhar Ali, a Pakistani batter, has announced that he will retire from Test cricket following the third game against England in Karachi, which starts on December 17. Azhar retires as Pakistan’s fifth-highest run scorer in the format, behind Younis Khan, Javed Miandad, Inzamam Ul Haq, and Mohammad Yousuf. Going into his final game, he has 7097 runs in 96 games, averaging 42.49.
“It has been a great honour and privilege for me to represent my country at the highest level. Deciding on when to call it a day is always tough, but, after contemplating deeply, I realised that this is the right time for me to retire from Test cricket,” Azhar said.
“I have been blessed to share the dressing room with some of the most outstanding cricketers with whom I share a strong bond. I feel much richer by calling these people my friends. I am also blessed to have played under some wonderful coaches to whom I will always remain grateful,” he added.
The 37-year-old played against Australia in his first Test match back in 2010 at Lord’s. From just his second appearance, where he scored his first half-century, the runs started to flow. Later, he added 34 more fifties and 19 tons to his format total. In 2016, he became the only Pakistani batter to record a triple-ton in a pink-ball Test thanks to his highest Test score of 302. Additionally, Azhar has two double centuries, one in Adelaide against Australia and the other in Dhaka against Bangladesh in May 2015. (December 2016).
In a decisive victory in Abu Dhabi in a 2014 Test against Australia, Azhar scored two centuries. Now that he has retired, he has at least one hundred in Zimbabwe, Australia, Bangladesh, England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, and West Indies.
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