Dean Elgar To Retire From Tests After India Series 

image-lqgbp6jpDean Elgar to retire after India series (Twitter)

Dean Elgar will bid farewell to Test cricket following the conclusion of the marquee two-match series at home against India, the veteran opening batter and former South Africa skipper announced as he confirmed the speculations on the outside. 

Reports were doing the rounds past week that the ousted Proteas captain is set to call it quits upon the completion of the international summer and will not be travelling to New Zealand in February for South Africa's following assignment of the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) cycle spanning 2023-25.

Elgar was removed from captaincy following South Africa's disastrous Test series loss in Australia early last year and the ageing left-hander was under pressure to retain his spot despite his experience and body of work as the team management and selectors embrace a transition phase. 

Dean Elgar Retires From Test Cricket 

It is understood that the Proteas set-up is keen to explore younger options, who would be on trial during the two-Test trip to New Zealand when they travel with an alternate squad missing key players at the height of the second edition of Cricket South Africa's ambitious S20 league. 

Elgar is enroute to his final tryst with Test cricket at the age of 36, having featured in 84 previous Tests with 5,146 runs with 13 centuries and 23 half-centuries.  He also played 8 ODIs for South Africa. The veteran expressed his gratitude to South African cricket and all involved in his journey at the international stage in a statement issued on Friday (December 22). 


"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," Elgar said. 

"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."