LAHORE: Pakistan’s Azhar Ali, on Thursday, announced his retirement from limited overs cricket in order to concentrate fully on Test cricket.
“I have spoken to the chief selector, captain and the chairman of PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) before announcing my decision. I took the decision after giving it a lot of thought,” Azhar, 33, told reporters in Lahore.
A prolific player in the longest format, Azhar played the last of his ODI against New Zealand in January.
Azhar’s orthodox batting style in ODIs at an average of 36.90 and strike-rate of 74.45 has often been criticised.
“It is not a decision that I have taken suddenly; I had been considering this for quite some time,” he said while addressing a presser. “I think the time is right for me to focus on Test cricket.”
“This is my personal decision for the betterment of my career,” Azhar added.
“I just want to pay full attention to Test cricket now and I think the young players now coming into the team are performing very well in One-Day Internationals,” he added.
Azhar, who had to step down as captain of the ODI team last year, felt that he could have done more in 50-over cricket.
“I think I could have contributed some more in one-day cricket but with the World Cup due next year, I just felt it was time to move on and give others a chance.”
Making it clear he had felt no pressure to retire from ODIs, Azhar said his decision will give team management ample time to finalize their squad for next year’s World Cup.
“I just felt at that time they were some people, who didn’t support me as ODI captain, who thought I was not good for this format. It is never easy to captain the Pakistan side but they are also some good memories for me as captain.”
A PCB official said that Azhar took the decision knowing that he was not in the scheme of things.
“He has got a clear message that he is not in the team management’s plans for next year’s World Cup in England. He has decided it is better if he just focused on playing Test matches,” he said.
Azhar has been one of Pakistan’s most prolific run-scorers in Test cricket as he scored a triple century and a double hundred in Tests in the UAE and Australia in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
Since his debut in 2011, Azhar has played 53 ODIs and lead the national cricket team between 2015 and 2017 when, following his resignation, incumbent skipper Sarfraz Ahmed was appointed captain in ODI format.
PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani, among others, congratulated Azhar on a successful one-day career in which he scored 1,845 runs with the help of three centuries and 12 half-centuries.