The veteran Pakistan middle order batsman Shoaib Malik revealed his farewell talk with the current Pakistan captain Babar Azam. Shoaib Malik served his country through cricket, since 1999. It is here that he made a One-Day international debut for the Pakistan team.
Shoaib malik was considered as one of the most reliable batsman in the decade old batting order of Pakistan, where the greats like Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez and Mohammed Shehzad were used to play together. Malik wasn’t from the Cricketers who would got out after playing any false shot at the crucial stages. This thing increased his importance in the Pakistan batting department, when Younis Khan was the captain of the team.
Younis Khan was himself a compact batsman who always tried to keep his team on the same roll. In the famous ODI against Australia Pakistan was stucked in a big mess, where 4 wickets fell on just a score of 79-runs. At that stage Shoaib Malik played match winning knock of 128*(111). The game happened on the venue of Sydney cricket ground which Pakistan won by the margin of four wickets at the end. On the other hand, he used to bowl clinical off spin bowling which was pretty discipline in terms of line and lengths.
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His first match was under the leadership of the great Wasim Akram, who had a great hand in his nourishment in international cricket. Shoaib Malik played 35 test matches, 287 ODI games and 126 T20I matches in his whole international career. Fitness was the most important key in his cricket playing days which ultimately helped him thrive ahead consistently.
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In the young Pakistan team of Babar Azam, the 41-year-old Malik does not have a place to play. Now his middle order batting position is taken by the fresh names like Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah and Fawad Alam in all three formats of the game. Many players of Pakistan cricket fraternity are anticipating Shoaib Malik to announce his retirement soon.
While in his recent chat with some media platforms Shoaib Malik revealed that, “Yes, I talked to Babar. He asked me if I wanted to retire when we were at the (T20) World Cup (2021). See, there should be a transparent conversation on these things, everyone should know what I want. I’ve played for so many years, I think I deserve that much. There must be some clarity on what the board wants and what the player wants”.
Later he added, “So, Babar asked me that. I told him, ‘Babar, considering the environment right now and whatever happened with me during the recent past, I don’t want to play. If you want an answer on my fitness or whether I could be a burden on team, there’s nothing like that. You know my fitness. If you want me to play, though, I will be available for Pakistan.”
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