Veteran New Zealand all-rounder Daniel Vettori has announced his retirement from international cricket after returning home following their loss to Australia in the World Cup final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
It was expected that Sunday's World Cup final would be the last time Vettori would play for his country, but in the aftermath of the game captain Brendon McCullum had said that no player would announce his retirement yet, in order to not steal any of the limelight away from Australia's victory.
And the New Zealanders kept true to their word as they held off any retirement news until returning home, News.com.au reported.
After arriving at the Auckland airport on Tuesday, Vettori said that it was his last game for New Zealand, in the final, so it was a lovely way to finish, adding that it would've been obviously great to win but insisted that he was really proud of everyone and the way they went about things in the last six weeks.
The 36-year-old had an outstanding farewell tournament, as he finished as one of the leading spinners with 15 wickets at an economy rate of 4.04 runs per over.
Vettori brought an end to a career that started way back in 1997 having played 113 Tests and 295 ODIs for New Zealand, in which he took 362 and 305 wickets respectively. He also took 38 wickets from 34 T20 internationals, the report added.