Former England cricket star Pietersen appears to retire

Kevin Pietersen dropped a strong hint that he has retired after the polarising former England star decided not to join Quetta Gladiators in Lahore for their Pakistan Super League play-off.

Pietersen helped Quetta qualify from the group stages in the Twenty20 tournament, but with the event now moving from the UAE to Pakistan, he appears to have opted to bring down the curtain on his controversial playing career.

The 37-year-old batsman hinted at his long-expected retirement with a Tweet which simply read "Boots Up! Thank you" before expanding on his situation on Saturday.

"Someone just tweeted to tell me that I scored 30000+ runs including 152 fifty's & 68 hundreds in my pro career," he wrote on Instagram.

"4 Ashes wins. Home & away! T20 WC win. Beaten India in India. Home & away 100's in all major Test nations apart from Bangladesh.

"All dedicated to my family who have just been the most unreal supporters through thick & thin! I'm super proud of everything!
"Thank you for all the quite lovely msgs! I loved entertaining you all! Ciao, cricket! I love this game!"
A post on Quetta's Twitter feed read: "You will be missed @KP24 Great career!! Thank you for everything. Wish you could stayed with us till PSL final but we respect your decision."