Former South African captain Dean Elgar has announced his retirement from international cricket following the two-match Test series against India. During his 12-year career, The Left-handed opener has played 84 Tests and eight One-Day Internationals for South Africa.
The 36-year-old has performed consistently well for the team in the longer format of the game over the years. Following the resignation of Quinton de Kock, Dean Elgar took over as full-time test captain. In June 2021, he captained the team against the West Indies.
South Africa red-ball coach Shukri Conrad backed the Proteas to maintain the proud Test record against India with Temba Bavuma having an eye on the World Test Championship 2023-25.
In a statement released, Dean Elgar said that he is grateful for the opportunity to serve the country for the past 12 years and that the home series against India will be his last in South African colours. He hopes to end his test career on a positive note in Cape Town.
“Playing the game of cricket has always been a dream of mine but having the opportunity to represent your country is the ultimate! Having had the privilege to do it for 12 years internationally is simply beyond my wildest dreams. It has been an incredible journey that I have been fortunate enough to have.
“As they say, ‘all good things come to an end’, and the Indian home series will be my last, as I have made the decision to retire from our beautiful game. A game that has given me so much. The Cape Town Test will be my last. My favourite stadium in the world. A place I scored my first Test run against New Zealand and hopefully my last too.
“Having the opportunity to represent my country and the learnings I’ve had along my journey is something I’ll always be thankful for. It’s most definitely been the best learning experience of my life,” Dean Elgar said.
Dean Elgar has scored over 5000 runs at an average of 37.28 since making his Test debut against Australia in 2012, including 13 hundreds and a career-best 199 against Bangladesh in 2017. The Left-handed opener guided the side to third place in the second edition of the ICC World Test Championship, including a 2-1 series triumph over India at home in January 2022.
Dean Elgar performed exceedingly well in the 4-Day Domestic Series this season with 402 runs scored in six innings for the Titans at an average of 80.40 and could be keen to put up a fine show for the Proteas in the two-match test series starting on December 26.
