KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain and world record holder batsman Mohammad Yousuf announced he was to quit international cricket in protest against an indefinite ban.

Yousuf was banned earlier this month in a crackdown on players by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) following a disastrous tour of Australia. The dismal performance resulted in bans and fines on seven leading players — Younus was captain for most of the games.

“I received a letter from the PCB that my staying in the team is harmful, so I announce my retirement from international cricket,” he said in Karachi. “I thank the fans around the world, all the senior players and family members for supporting me throughout my 12-year career,” he said. “I always played for my country and if my playing is harmful for the team then I don’t want to play,” he said.

Yousuf played 88 Tests, nine as captain and scored 7,431 runs at an average of 53.07, including 24 centuries. He also scored 9,624 runs in 282 ODIs. Yousuf was third behind Javed Miandad (8,832 in 124) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (8,829 in 119) in all time run-getters for Pakistan in Tests and second behind Inzamam (11,701 in 375 matches) in ODIs. But his greatest achievement was 1,788 Test runs in 2006 with nine hundreds — the world record for most runs scored and hundreds in a calendar year.