Former Pakistan cricketers reckon Shoaib Malik’s career is over

Veteran Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik was preparing for his final World Cup for some time now. The 37-year-old was picked along with Mohammad Hafeez as two experienced hands to help Sarfaraz Ahmed. But while Hafeez has yet got some runs, Malik has been a major failure in this tournament as he managed just eight runs from three matches with two ducks. The veteran bagged a golden duck he faced against India at the Old Trafford to leave his side in complete disarray. It’s being said that Malik has already played his final game for Pakistan.

He had said earlier this year that the World Cup will be his final ODI tournament and he would next focus on the World T20 to be played in Australia next year. But now, Malik could be fast thrown into the pages of history and might not feature again in any format for Pakistan again.

Before the game against India, Malik had fallen for a duck against Australia as well, leaving his team’s yet another chase for a 300-plus target in a complete mess. Former Pakistan cricketers like Shoaib Akhtar and Rameez Raja blasted the senior cricketer over his lacklustre effort and the fans have even dragged his family into the controversy. And not many see Shoaib Malik featuring in any of the four remaining matches in the World Cup.

“He (Malik) himself has announced before the World Cup that he would retire from ODIs after the event. Given his performances in the tournament so far I don’t see him playing again in the remaining four matches,” Times Now quoted former Test spinner Iqbal Qasim as saying.

Malik is one of the few cricketers who made debut in 1990s

Shoaib Malik, who quit Test cricket in 2015 to concentrate more on limited-over formats, has over 11,000 runs in international cricket besides over 200 wickets. He has nine hundreds in 287 ODIs played since 1999. He is one of the two cricketers in this World Cup who made their debut in the 1990s (the other being West Indian Chris Gayle).

Even Mohammad Yousuf was of the opinion that the team will err if Malik is picked again in the team for the remainder of the tournament. “I think his career is over for Pakistan and I don’t see him playing any further in this World Cup. To select him again would be a big mistake,” he said.