Former South Africa captain Dean Elgar has announced his retirement after the two-match Test series against India at home. The international career of this 36-year-old cricketer is going to end with two Test matches to be held in Centurion and Cape Town.

Elgar entered international cricket in 2012 with ODI cricket. He made his Test debut next month. However, he could not last long in ODI cricket. But he made himself indispensable in Test cricket. He scored 5146 runs at 37.28 in 84 Test matches with 11 centuries and 23 half-centuries. He also led the team in 17 matches in Test cricket. However, his performance graph during his tenure as captain was downward. His batting average as captain is around 27 and Elgar's batting average without captaincy is 40.30.

Elgar said in his statement, “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."

The first Test between India and South Africa will start on December 26 in Centurion and the second Test will start on January 3 in Cape Town.