New Delhi: Former Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik on Friday announced his retirement from ODIs after Pakistan's World Cup 2019 journey came to an end at Lord's. He had retired from Test cricket in 2016.
Taking to Twitter, Shoaib wrote, "Today I retire from One Day International cricket. Huge Thank you to all the players I have played with, coaches I have trained under, family, friends, media, and sponsors. Most importantly my fans, I love you all."
Today I retire from One Day International cricket. Huge Thank you to all the players I have played with, coaches I have trained under, family, friends, media, and sponsors. Most importantly my fans, I love you all#PakistanZindabad pic.twitter.com/zlYvhNk8n0
— Shoaib Malik (@realshoaibmalik) July 5, 2019
In his 20 years long career, Shoaib represented Pakistan in 287 ODIs, 35 Test matches and 111 T20Is. He had scored 7,534 ODI runs at an average of 34.55 and bagged 158 wickets.
Shoaib took over as the captain of Pakistan cricket team after Inzamam-ul-Haq's stepped down from his role post-2007 World Cup. Malik was all of 25 when he led the team and became the fourth youngest captain. However, he gave up his captaincy after Pakistan's poor show against Sri Lanka in 2009.
The ongoing edition of World Cup did not see Shoaib in his best form as he barely managed to score eight runs in three matches. He was then dropped from the playing XI and was replaced by Haris Sohail, who turned out to be a better replacement in terms of performance.
Although Malik was initially missing from Pakistan vs Bangladesh clash on Friday, he came to the field as a substitute as the match progressed. As soon as the match got over, he was given a Guard of Honour at the Lord’s Stadium.
Hugs galore
Guard of honour
Plenty of applausePakistan gave Shoaib Malik a fitting send-off as he retired from ODI cricket #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/ESA4q1sLUM
— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) July 5, 2019
"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 the 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," Shoaib said during a post-match conference.
In the Lord's outing, a determined Pakistan thrashed Bangladesh by 94 runs. However, despite a thumping victory, Pakistan failed to qualify for the semi-finals as they needed to beat Bangladesh by an almost impossible target of over 300 runs to secure a spot in semis.
