Oct 8 : Sourav Ganguly said yesterday he would retire from international cricket at the end of the upcoming four-Test series against Australia.

“This will be my last series,” Ganguly, 36, said after a training session ahead of the first Test starting in Bangalore tomorrow . “ I spoke to my team-mates and, hopefully, I will go out with a winning knock.”

Ganguly was a surprise inclusion for the first two Test. He and some of the other senior players have been told to plan for retirement from the game.

The elegant left-hander, who made his Test debut in 1996, has scored 6888 runs in 109 Tests at an average of 41.74 with 15 centuries.

Ganguly ended his one-day career with 11363 runs in 311 matches, one of only seven batsmen in the world to cross the 10000-run mark in limited-overs cricket.