Shoaib Malik has announced his retirement from One-Day International (ODI) cricket after Pakistan failed to qualify for the World 2019 semi-finals but the all-rounder will continue to ply his trade in the Twenty20 format. Pakistan ended their World Cup 2019 campaign on a winning note after defeating Bangladesh by 94 runs at Lord’s on Friday. Shoaib Malik played three matches in the showpiece event. After Pakistan’s heavy defeat to arch-rivals, India, the 37-year-old Shoaib Malik was heavily criticised and was later dropped from the side for the remainder of the tournament.
Malik represented Pakistan in 287 One-day Internationals (ODIs) and scored 7534 runs at an average of 34.55. The right-handed batsman also featured in 35 Test matches and scored three hundreds for his country.
“As I mentioned in my previous interviews that I am going to retire right after the World Cup and today was our last game. I am retiring from ODI cricket. I had decided a few years ago to retire on last Pakistan World Cup match. I am sad that I’ll be leaving the format of cricket, I once loved but happy that I will have more time to spend with my family. This will also allow me to focus on T20s,” said an emotional Shoaib Malik at the post-match press conference.
Malik also thanked his teammates, coaches, his family, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) but “most importantly my fans, who I love you all”.
