Brad Hodge announces his retirement

Australian batsman Brad Hodge announced his retirement from cricket after health issues forced him to miss the latter stages of Melbourne Renegades' BBL 2017-18 campaign. The 43-year-old confirmed that he will retire at the end of this season owing to his appendicitis problem that brought a premature end to his BBL campaign.

"This will be the end of the road," Hodge told News Corp. "I'll represent (Melbourne club) East Sandringham in the finals and that will be it for my cricket career."

Hodge is the sixth-leading run-getter in the history of T20s and has scored 7,406 runs from 277 games at an average of almost 37 and strike rate of over 130. In the IPL, he has represented Rajasthan Royals, Kochi Tuskers and Kolkata Knight Riders. He also scored over 17,000 runs in first-class cricket at an average of almost 49 and over 9,000 List-A runs at an average of 43.

Across all formats, the 43-year-old has over 33,000 runs in a career that began in 1993-94. He has represented Australia across all formats but played just six Tests, 25 ODIs and 15 T20Is.

Hodge was averaging 34 for the Renegades in the recently-concluded edition of the BBL but complications with respect to his illness meant that he missed the last two league games and the semi-final against Adelaide Strikers, the eventual winners of the tournament.

"Technology now keeps you up and about, but (the doctor) stated that 30-40 years ago it could have been the end of the road. Time-wise for me, I was probably fortunate I went in (to hospital) on the Saturday in Melbourne. If I'd left it another 24 hours it could have been a lot worse. The surgeon didn't paint a great picture of what was happening inside there," he added.

"It's a good fun time, I love being involved and I really look forward to it," he told bigbash.com.au. "My thoughts on playing are if you can't make an impact, then don't play. If I can't do what I have to do on the field, then I'll walk off and pack it in," he added.

Hodge, who coached the Gujarat Lions in IPL 2017, will take charge of Kings XI Punjab this time around.