KARACHI, Jan 26: Former Pakistan batsman Farhan Adil on Monday announced his retirement from all forms of cricket with immediate effect after not being able to play at the first-class level since 2005-06.

Farhan, 31, played a solitary Test when he was picked for the third and final match of the series against Bangladesh at Multan in September 2003. Pakistan won the Test by one wicket to complete a clean sweep after Inzamam-ul-Haq scored an unbeaten 138.

Farhan, who was dismissed in both innings by now retired Bangladesh’s slow left-armer Mohammad Rafique, scored 25 and 8 in the Test, was told of his inclusion in the playing XI late in the night before the match started next morning.

“I was part of the squad throughout the series. But for some reasons I never got a chance to bat during the practice sessions in Karachi, Peshawar and Multan [where the Tests were played]. Then all of a sudden the night before the Test in Multan, skipper [Rashid Latif] intimated to me that I was playing,” a disenchanted Farhan told Dawn on Monday.

“Although I’m quitting cricket with no regrets, I must admit that it was quite strange [at being asked] to make my international debut in that Test without any batting practice for weeks. This isn’t the right way to tell any player that ‘you are playing tomorrow’, let alone someone playing at the top level for the first time,” Farhan stated.

After making his first-class debut in 1996-97, the right-handed middle-order batsman represented Habib Bank and Karachi in 107 matches to score 5326 runs at average 35.74 with 211 the highest of his 11 centuries. On his final first-class appearance at Rawalpindi in 2005-06, Farhan made 76 and 35 against PIA in a losing cause for Habib Bank.

In 65 limited-overs (List A) matches, Farhan made 1752 runs with four hundreds at 33.05. He scored 100 for Pakistan Customs against Faisalabad Wolves at Faisalabad on his last one-day appearance in March 2008.