Veteran Pakistan top-order batsman Azhar Ali will retire from international cricket after the third and final Test against England in Karachi starting Saturday.
The 37-year-old former captain was dropped from the second Test -- the second time in six months that he was left out of the team -- signalling the end was near.
"Everything must come to an end, so on a good note I feel -- and my heart and mind understands -- that this is the right time to decide that the Karachi Test will be my last for Pakistan," an emotional Azhar told a press conference.
"It was an honour to not only play for Pakistan, but also captain the country, and I am going with fond memories," added Azhar, who with 7,097 runs from 96 matches is Pakistan's fifth-highest Test scorer.
Azhar will likely replace injured opener Imam-ul-Haq for the Karachi Test and will be hoping to bow out on a high.
The writing appears to have been on the wall for Azhar during the home series against England, which Pakistan are losing 2-0.
He scored 27 and 40 in the first Test in Rawalpindi but the manner of his dismissal -- caught off pacer Ollie Robinson to leg slip where a fielder was placed -- was criticised.
He was left out of the second Test, having likewise been dropped from the second Test against Sri Lanka at Galle in July this year.
Azhar denied he had been pushed out. "It's solely my decision," he said. "No one told me to do this."
