Pakistan legend Shahid Afridi and India great Sachin Tendulkar were among the star names who congratulated Alastair Cook after the England batsman announced his retirement from international cricket following the fifth Test against India.

Cook will retire with more than 12,000 Test runs under his belt and already has 32 Test centuries. He is a four-time Ashes winner and led rare Test series wins in India and Australia.

Afridi called Cook a “wonderful player who was a wonderful ambassador of the game” in his tweet while Tendulkar said “Alastair Cook has been one of the finest batsmen to have represented England, and his conduct on-field and off it, has been impeccable.”

In his Instagram post, former England batsman Paul Collingwood hailed the selfless batting of Cook. “It was a pleasure being out in the middle when you scored a lot of your hundreds for England. Thanks for fighting so hard,” Collingwood said in his post.

Gary Lineker also congratulated Cook, calling him “one of the greatest opening batsmen ever to have donned a pair of pads and gloves.”