5 Players who might announce retirement with T20 World Cup 2020 getting postponed

The ICC (International Cricket Council) has announced the inescapable postponement of the Men’s T20 World Cup, which was supposed to be scheduled for October this year in Australia. The marquee event is postponed for a year and is now rescheduled for October-November 2021.

Also, the 2021 edition of the tournament is carried forward to 2022. Along with the T20 World Cups, ICC has also put off the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup from January to October, which will be hosted by India.

The rescheduling of the T20 World Cup will surely hurt ICC largely– financially, obviously–and it will also miff some of the players who were looking to make their presence felt in the marquee event. While young cricketers will always have time for further opportunities, however, for some aged ones– rather we can say, for the experienced campaigners– this could have been their one last shot at an ICC Trophy.

Every nation is having a surplus of youth talent, and a place for some cricketers is under scrutiny. Thus, the wait of another year might just be too much to deliberate upon their retirement, considering the lack of competitive cricket.

Here we look at 5 cricketers who might announce retirement owing to the T20 World Cup getting postponed:

1. Shoaib Malik

Over 20 years ago, Shoaib Malik made his ODI debut against West Indies as a bowling all-rounder. But eventually, as his career proceeded, he turned into a batting all-rounder who has batted from the opening position to number ten!

Malik is such a versatile batter that he could open, act as a stabilizer in the middle order, and add finishing touches to the innings as well. Malik has shifted his role from an anchor to a finisher in the concluding stage of his limited-overs career.

After scoring a duck in his maiden innings, Malik went on to score 7534 ODI runs. He also picked 158 wickets with his off-breaks.  The right-hander took retirement from ODIs after an abysmal World Cup last year in England. He managed only 8 runs in 3 innings, including two ducks. The 37-year-old received a deserving guard of honour by his teammates after their last World Cup game against Bangladesh. He has made himself available for T20 internationals.

Malik led Pakistan to the final of the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, but his team failed to cross the last hurdle against arch-rivals, India. He was a key member of Pakistan’s 2009 T20 World Cup-winning team.

The veteran all-rounder has picked up 147 wickets in addition to 9892 runs in his T20 career at an average of 37 in 363 innings. He is well past his peak, and the Pakistani team is bolstered with the likes of Asif Ali, Imad Wasim, and Shadab Khan in the lower order- which might just force the 38-year-old to ponder over his retirement plans.