Shoaib Malik announces retirement from Tests

Shoaib Malik announces retirement from Tests: Pakistan batsman Shoaib Malik has announced his retirement from Test Cricket during the ongoing 3rd test match between Pakistan and England at Sharjah.

34-year old Malik surprised everyone with his decision, who scored 294 runs in the current series which includes a career best of 245. He also picked up 8 wickets in this series including a career best of 4-wicket haul which came a couple of hours before his retirement after 3rd day’s play. However, his last innings with bat turned out to be a golden duck.

Malik has quoted that he has taken this decision to concentrate more on 2019 Cricket World Cup and allow youngsters to get more chances in test cricket.

“I am retiring from Test cricket. I could have played on but this is the right time for me to retire from this format. I’d like to concentrate on 2019 World Cup. Good time to give youngsters a chance. People like Babar Azam, Haris Sohail etc are good players,” said Malik. “They can learn and improve. Was thinking about this for a while. Would like to give others chance. This team is more established so new player can fit in. I may still play First Class cricket because I love playing the game.”

Shoaib Malik, who made his test comeback after a 5 year long gap with the ongoing series, featured in only 35 test matches in his 14 year career. He scored 1898 runs at an average of 35.14 including 3 centuries. He also had 29 wickets on his name so far.

Talking about Malik’s retirement from test cricket, Mohammad Hafeez said that he was surprised over his team mate’s decision. Hafeez, who was unbeaten on 97 on day 3 said, “I am surprised to know Malik has announced retirement. I just met him a while ago and had no idea about this decision.”