Zimbabwe's Elton Chigumbura to bid adieu to international cricket after Pakistan T20Is

The Zimbabwe Cricket confirmed via a tweet that the 34-year-old will end his career with the national side following the ongoing tour of Pakistan.

Image Credits: Twitter/@IPL

Zimbabwe all-rounder Elton Chigumbura will call curtains to his 16-year-long international career at the end of the ongoing three-match T20I series against Pakistan.

The Zimbabwe Cricket took to its official Twitter handle to confirm that the 34-year-old will end his career with the national side following the ongoing tour of Pakistan.

The country's cricket board also listed down the cricket stats of Chigumbura so far.

"Former @ZimCricketv captain Elton Chigumbura is set to retire from international cricket at the end of the current @TheRealPCB tour. He has made 213 ODI and 14 Test appearances, with 54 T20Is under his belt before the start of his swansong seriesm," the board tweeted.

Former @ZimCricketv captain Elton Chigumbura is set to retire from international cricket at the end of the current @TheRealPCB tour. He has made 213 ODI and 14 Test appearances, with 54 T20Is under his belt before the start of his swansong series#ThankYouElty | #VisitZimbabwe pic.twitter.com/ah9ukP3mbJ

— Zimbabwe Cricket (@ZimCricketv) November 7, 2020

According to Zimbabwe Cricket, Chigumbura is retiring from the international arena because "injuries had continued to take a toll" and in order to "pave the way for young blood in the national side", BBC reported.

The all-rounder made his international debut with a One-Day International (ODI) against Sri Lanka in April 2004.

 Since then, he has ammassed 569 runs and bagged 21 wickets in 14 matches he played for Zimbabwe in the longest format of the game. Chigumbura also notched up 4,340 runs and 101 wickets in 213 ODIs and 844 runs and 14 wickets in 54 matches in the shortest format of the game.

Besides this, Chigumbura--who has also played county cricket for English side Northamptonshire-- has also led the national side on 80 occasions.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe all-rounder is only the second player from his country after Grant Flower to achieve the double of 4,000 runs and 100 wickets in the 50-over format.

On a related note, Zimbabwe are trailing 0-1 in the ongoing three-match T20I series against Pakistan after slumping to a six-wicket defeat in the opening match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

The second and third T20I between the two sides will take place on Sunday (November 8) and Tuesday (November 10).

Earlier, Zimbabwe lost the three-match ODI series against Pakistan by 1-2.