Agencies
Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez has announced his retirement from international cricket. According to media reports, he made such announcement during a press conference on Monday.
The all-rounder has reportedly played in 55 Tests, 218 one-day internationals and 119 Twenty20 internationals for his country. His last appearance was in Pakistan’s T20 World Cup semi-final defeat by Australia in November, according to the BBC.
He scored 12,780 runs and took 253 wickets across all three formats of cricket.
“Today I say goodbye to international cricket with pride and satisfaction,” the BBC quoted the 41-year-old Hafeez as saying.
“I have earned and accomplished more than I had initially envisaged and for that, I’m thankful to all my fellow cricketers, captains, support staff and the PCB [Pakistan Cricket Board] who helped me out during my career.”
Hafeez made his international debut in 2003 as an opening batsman while bowling part-time off-spin. Almost a decade later, he topped the International Cricket Council’s rankings for bowlers and all-rounders. It was when he captained Pakistan’s T20 side, before being ranked the top T20 all-rounder in March 2014.
However, he was banned from bowling on several occasions after being reported for having an illegal bowling action, most recently in 2019 while playing for English county side Middlesex, and was forced to remodel his action, BBC further reported.
Hafeez will continue to play in the Pakistan Super League and be available for other franchise tournaments.
