Former captain Azhar Ali will hang his boots following the third Test against England, which begins on Saturday.

“It has been a great honour and privilege for me to represent my country at the highest level,” said emotional Azhar while addressing to media at the National Bank Cricket Arena on Friday.

He is the fifth highest runs getter for Pakistan. He scored 7,097 runs to in 96 matches at an average of 42.49.

Younis Khan leads the chart with 10,099, Javed Miandad (8,832), Inzamam-ul-Haq (8,829) and Mohammad Yousuf (7,530).

He said that the decision to call it the day was tough. “I realised that this is the right time for me to retire from Test cricket.”

“Not many cricketers go on to lead their countries, and that I was able to captain Pakistan is a matter of great pride for me,” he said adding that he retires from international cricket as a fulfilled cricketer who ticked most of the goals he had set for himself.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja praised the experienced batter stating that he was “most committed and loyal servants” of Pakistan cricket.

“While it is sad that Pakistan will not have a player of his experience in the dressing room to draw upon, it only reflects the circle of life,” Ramiz told PCB.

He hope to see Azhar continuing to play a role in the development of Pakistan cricket and sharing his vast knowledge and experience with budding cricketers.

A glance at Azhar Ali’s career

In 2010, Azhar, as a 25-year-old, made his Test debut in England against Australia at Lord’s and scored his maiden Test half-century in only his second match, the Pakistan Cricket Board said in a press release. He would score 34 more half-centuries and went past the 100-run mark on 19 instances.

Azhar, 37, is the only Pakistan batter to score a triple-century in a pink-ball Test - a feat that he achieved against the West Indies at Dubai in 2016. That unbeaten 302 remains his highest score in Test cricket.

Over the course of his 12-year career, Azhar also made two double-centuries – 226 against Bangladesh in Dhaka (May 2015) and 205 not out against Australia in Melbourne (December 2016) - and has, at least, one century in Australia, Bangladesh, England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, the West Indies and Zimbabwe. Against Australia in Abu Dhabi in 2014, Azhar scored a century in each innings (109 and 100 not out) to help Pakistan win the second Test by 356 runs and two-Test series 2-0.

Azhar captained Pakistan in nine Tests in two separate tenures from 2016 till 2020.

Azhar retired from One-Day Internationals in 2018 – a year after helping Pakistan win the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. In that tournament, Azhar had scores of 50 (v India), 9 (v South Africa), 34 (v Sri Lanka), 76 (v England in semi-final) and 59 (v India in final).