Wasim Jaffer has announced his retirement from all forms of retirement. Jaffer, who represented in India in 31 Test matches, said that “after all these years in cricket, it is time to move on.” A domestic giant and a three-time winner of the Ranji Trophy, Wasim Jaffer is the highest run-scorer in the history of the Ranji Trophy and also the first Indian batsmen to score over 11,000 runs in the competition. He is also the highest capped player in the Ranji Trophy with over 150 appearances in India’s premier first-class competition. Jaffer led Mumbai to successive Ranji Trophy titles before joining Vidarbha and becoming part of their sensational title-winning campaign. It was Jaffer, who hit the winning runs in the 2015/16 final against Delhi.

“First of all, I would like to thank The Almighty Allah, who gave me the talent to play this beautiful game. I'd like to also thank my family - my parents and brothers for encouraging me to pursue the sport as a profession and my wife, who left a cosy life of England to create a lovely home for our children and me,” Jaffer was quoted as saying in a statement by Sports Star. “A special thanks to all my coaches, right from my school days to professional cricket, for helping me polish my skills. A heartfelt thanks to the selectors who showed faith in me.”

The 41-year-old batsman played over 250 first-class matches for 19,211 runs which included an astonishing 57 hundreds. In his 31 Test matches for India, Jaffer hit five centuries11 fifties. Two of five hundreds were double centuries, one of which was in the West Indies. Jaffer scored Test hundreds in South Africa, West Indies and Bangladesh. He was also an integral part of the Indian team that sealed Test series wins in England and the Caribbean Islands.

“My gratitude to all the captains I played under and all my colleagues from whom I learnt so much about the game and shared some lifelong memories,” said Jaffer. “I would also like to thank all the support staff who were a constant pillar of support in my long journey.” He was recently appointed the batting coach of the Kings XI Punjab team.

“After all these years in cricket, it is time to move on. But just like the red ball format which is very dear to me, it's the end of only the first innings. I am looking forward to the second innings in any capacity, be it in coaching, commentary etc. As long as I stay involved with the game as this game has given me so much.”

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 07, 2020 12:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).