Finally it was end to all sorts of speculations regarding Jacques Kallis as there were talks regarding his decision to take respite from international cricket when he himself made it clear yesterday. Previously Kallis repeatedly mentioned that he wants to be with the team till the 2015 world cup. However there were speculations that there might be a change in his decision and it 
came into daylight when he aired the news of his retirement in a statement that came through Cricket South Africa.
He said, “I realized in Sri Lanka that my dream of playing in a World Cup was a bridge too far… I just knew on that tour that I was done. The squad that was in Sri Lanka is an amazing one and I believe they have a good chance of bringing the trophy home in March.” He added, “I would like to thank Cricket South Africa, the team, the team sponsors, my sponsors, the fans and all the people who have been involved in my career. It has been an amazing journey.”
Kallis’s poor run in the tournament against Sri Lanka might have hastened the decision for he managed to score only 5 runs in three innings that he played. His bowling was not up to mark as well although South Africa won the series 2-1. Incidentally he retired from the longest version of the game last year where he signed off with a big hundred that enabled South Africa to beat India 
in South Africa.
In all these years Kallis has been a titanic figure as far as the game of cricket is concerned. His staggering figures speak volume of that. In 328 ODIs that he has played he has scored 11579 runs with an average of 44.36 comprised of 17 centuries and 86 half-centuries. In 25 T20s, he scored 666 runs with a strike-rate of 119.35 going past the 50-run mark for 5 times. It’s not finished yet for he has been an excellent performer for South Africa with the ball in hand as well. In ODIs he has picked up 273 wickets with a couple of 5-wicket hauls. He has got 12 wickets in T20s as well. All these numbers however don’t speak of Kallis’s great spirit with which he has played the game throughout his career. He has always been the go-to man for South Africa. And there is no reason why he should not be considered as a legend of modern cricket.
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