Misbah to retire from one-day cricket after World Cup

Karachi, Jan 11: Pakistan's long serving captain Misbah-ul-Haq today confirmed that he would be retiring from One-day Internationals and T20 cricket after the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

"I have already informed the Pakistan Cricket Board I will be retiring from one-day cricket after the World Cup," Misbah said from Lahore. Earlier today, a senior official of the board told PTI that Misbah had informed the board of his retirement plans.

"I think this is the best time for me to say goodbye to limited overs cricket and focus on Test cricket," Misbah said. Misbah was made Test captain in late 2010 after the spot fixing scandal in England and in mid-2011 he also took over as ODI and T20 captain after the board sacked Shahid Afridi as captain on disciplinary grounds.

The PCB however later appointed Muhammad Hafeez as the national T20 captain leaving Misbah to lead the Test and one-day side. Misbah, who is Pakistan's most successful Test captain said he had thought about his future and felt he should focus on the longest format after the World Cup.

"The World Cup will be my last one-day international event and I hope I can come up to the expectations of the nation," he said. The 41-year-old scored 4669 runs in 153 ODIs at 42.83 besides making 788 runs in 39 T20 Internationals at 37.52.

Misbah is recovering from a hamstring injury and is expected to take a fitness test in Lahore on Monday.

PTI