Jacques Kallis, one of South Africa’s greatest cricket players have announced his retirement from the Test Cricket—or the five-day format of the sport. The 38-year-old’s last Test will be against India and the series starts Thursday marking his final match from first-class cricket.

"I have enjoyed every moment out in the middle but I just feel that the time is right to hang up my Test whites," Kallis said in a statement via Cricket South Africa (CSA), the governing body of the sport in his country.

"It's been an honour and a privilege to have been part of the South African Test team since making my debut 18 years ago," the all-rounder said. "It wasn't an easy decision to come to, especially with Australia around the corner and the success this team is enjoying, but I feel that I have made my contribution in this format."

Kallis has played for South Africa, Africa XI, Cape Cobras,Glamorgan, ICC World XI, Kolkata Knight Riders, Middlesex,Royal Challengers Bangalore, Warriors and Western Province since starting to play internationally at 20-years-old.

Watch Kallis highlights below:

"It's been an emotional few days knowing JK (Jacques Kallis) retiring," South Africa captain Graeme Smith posted on Twitter account after the announcement. "All I can say what a privilege to have played with the great man! Hopefully we can give him the send off he deserves over the next 5 days! Gonna miss him immensely."

"Jacques Kallis has simply been the Protea's Rock of Gibraltar," added South Africa coach Russell Domingo. “"He is a legend and his statistics speak volumes. For the number of Test centuries scored, he is second only to Sachin Tendulkar and he is statistically the greatest all-rounder of all time.”