Pakistan batsman Younis Khan has announced his retirement from one-day cricket, saying the first day-night international against England in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday will be his last match.
The 37-year-old had wanted to leave the format on a high after he was selected in the 16-man squad for the four-match series against England despite patchy recent form.
– ICCPAKvENG: Srinivasan loses BCCI support as chairman
– Cricket Xtra: Nothing wrong with India wanting spin
– UAE: Skipper Raza hoping to learn from Oman draw
Wednesday’s game will be Younis’s 265th one-day international, nearly 16 years after making his debut against Sri Lanka in Karachi in February 2000. Going into his last match, Younis has scored 7,240 runs with seven hundreds and 48 half-centuries in one dayers.
“He will retire from one-day cricket after Wednesday’s game and he has conveyed this to us,” team manager Intikhab Alam told AFP.
Younis had retired from Twenty20 cricket after leading Pakistan to the World Twenty20 title in England in 2009. He was subsequently out of the one-day squad for most of 2013 before being selected for the tour of Sri Lanka in June last year.
He managed to score just three in the only match before he had to return home following the death of his nephew.
Dropped from the one-day team against Australia last year, Younis smashed a total of 468 in the 2-0 Test win against Australia that forced the selectors to recall him to the one-day team.
It seems Younis Khan has decided today will be his final ODI…funny thing to do at the start of a series….
— Paul Newman (@Paul_NewmanDM) November 11, 2015
But he failed miserably in the World Cup 2015, managing 6, nought and 37 in the three matches he played before being dropped from the side again. Younis last week said he wanted to have a final fling in limited overs cricket and wanted to go out on a high.
“I want to play a few more matches and then go on a high,” said Younis. “I have served the team well so its my wish to retire after scoring a big knock.”
