Azhar Ali Retirement from International Cricket – The third test match between England and Pakistan came to an end on Tuesday as England powered their way to victory. With that the match, the series, and the tour came to an end.
However, another thing that came to an end with that was the Wonderful and Graceful Cricketing Career of the former Pakistan Captain, Azhar Ali.
Azhar Ali Retirement – The story of a career that started in Turmoil:
The Story of Azhar Ali’s career is what makes it even more special, respect-worthy, praise-worthy, and commendable. Azhar has broken into international cricket when PAK cricket was at its lowest point.
He made his debut against Australia at Lords in the first test match of the two-match series. The test match also happened to be the last test match of Shahid Afridi’s career, who had made a one-match return to Test Cricket before calling it quits for good.
A gritty 42 run innings against Australia showed the world what Azhar was capable of. And this resilient and gritty nature of the great man was on show for the whole decade. Azhar played his next few test matches under the captaincy of Salman Butt.
Pakistan won against Australia but lost to England as three of PAK’s main players, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and Captain Salman Butt were banned due to match fixing charges. PAK cricket was at its lowest point as mistrust and dismay prevailed.
Misbah ul Haq was brought into the side as the captain to manage and stabilize things. And, Azhar rose to become Misbah’s go to guy. Azhar owned the crucial number 3 spot in the batting line-up and scored plenty of runs there. Under Misbah Ul Haq, PAK cricket rose to its glories in Test Cricket once again and Azhar Ali contributed significantly to that.
Azhar Ali Retirement – Azhar’s Statistics and Record:
Azhar scored 7142 runs in Test matches at an average of 42.26, with a career best innings of 302 runs against West Indies. He scored 19 hundred and 35 half centuries in the 97 test matches that he played for PAK.
In ODIs, he scored 1845 runs with three centuries and 12 half-centuries in 53 innings. He amassed more than 15000 runs in first class cricket at an average of 40.
He holds the record for most runs for PAK at the number three spot. Moreover, he is fifth on the list of Most Centuries for PAK in Test Cricket.
Azhar Ali Retirement – The Stalwart Calls it the Day:
Azhar opened for PAK in the Champions Trophy 2017. He and Fakhar Zaman provided PAK with two consecutive 100-run opening partnerships in the semi final and the final. Thus, laying the foundation in the big games.
Azhar was part of the Pakistani batting line-up that comprised of Taufeeq Umer, Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar, Younis, Misbah, Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed. These people had won numerous matches for Pakistan and always performed well as a unit.
Azhar is the last one to leave Pakistan Cricket (Sarfraz may make a comeback to the side, though) and he will hope that the new core of the team bonds well and takes Pakistan cricket to greater glories!
Thank You Azhar!
What is Test Match?
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Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last for up to five days. In the past, some Test matches had no time limit and were called Timeless Tests. The term “test match” was originally coined in 1861–62 but in a different context.
Test cricket did not become an officially recognised format until the 1890s, but many international matches since 1877 have been retrospectively awarded Test status. The first such match took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in March 1877 between teams which were then known as a Combined Australian XI and James Lillywhite’s XI, the latter a team of visiting English professionals.
Matches between Australia and England were first called “test matches” in 1892. The first definitive list of retrospective Tests was written by South Australian journalist Clarence P. Moody two years later and, by the end of the century, had gained acceptance.
There are now twelve full ICC member countries playing Test cricket. Day/night Tests were permitted by the ICC in 2012 and the first day/night match was between Australia and New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval in November 201
