ABU DHABI: Senior Afghanistan batter Asghar Afghan will retire from all formats of the game after his side's T20 World Cup Super 12 match against Namibia here on Sunday. The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) announced the 33-year-old former captain's retirement on its Twitter handle on Saturday.
"Afghanistan's ex captain Asghar Afghan who holds the highest winning streak as a captain in T20 internationals surpassing Indian legend MS Dhoni by one extra win, decides to bid farewell with all formats of cricket in Afghanistan's third match against Namibia at @T20WorldCup. @ACBofficials welcomes and respects his decision, expresses gratitudes for his services to the country. It will take a lot of hard work for young Afghan cricketers to fill his shoes," the ACB said.
The right-handed batsman has played in six Tests, 114 ODIs and 74 T20Is after making debut in 2009. He has scored 440 runs at an average of 44 in Tests, 2424 runs in ODIs at an average of 24. 73 and 1351 runs in T20Is at an average of 21.79.
Afghanistan won their opening match against Scotland by 130 runs before suffering a five-wicket defeat at the hands of Pakistan in the ongoing T20 World Cup so far.