Faf du Plessis, former South Africa’s captain, announces his Retirement From Test Cricket

Du Plessis said that he had wanted to finish up after the series at home against Australia that was scheduled to start later this month, which Australia has postponed indefinitely.

South Africa had recently lost the Test series away from home to Pakistan. Ever since then, Faf du Plessis’ form was under the scanner as the veteran batsman had failed to score on the tour.

Du Plessis took over Test captaincy from AB de Villiers in 2016 and led the side in 36 matches before relinquishing leadership last January after a home series defeat to England.

36-year-old Faf du Plessis made his Test debut in Adelaide on South Africa’s 2012-13 tour and was named the Player of the Match for his 78 and 110 not out in a memorable draw

Du Plessis walks away from the game with 69 Test matches and 4163 Tests runs to his name and scored at an average of 40.02, involving 10 centuries and 21 fifties. and his high score in Test is 199 runs against Sri Lanka

“I really wanted to finish with the upcoming Test series against Australia. That would have felt like it has all come full circle. I had that clarity of mind and heart and even though the ending is not how I imagined, the clarity remains,” du Plessis told

The next two years are ICC T20 World Cup years. Because of this, my focus is shifting to this format and I want to play as much of it as possible around the world so that I can be the best player I can possibly be”

• Read this: CSA confirms Pakistan Tour of South Africa schedule

Format	M	Inn	NO	Runs	HS	Avg	BF	BF	SR	100s	50s
Test	69	118	14	4163	199	40.0	8986	276	46.3	10	21
ODI	143	136	20	5507	185	47.5	6215	141	88.6	12	35
T20I	50	50	7	1528	119	35.5	1137	56	134.4	1	10
IPL	84	77	7	2302	96	32.9	1781	55	129.2	0	16