Shoaib Malik Announces No Interest in Playing for Pakistan, Advises Babar Azam to Focus on Batting

Veteran Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik has announced that he has lost interest in playing international cricket for Pakistan. In an interview with a local sports website, Malik, who has already retired from Test and One-Day International (ODI) formats, stated that his days in international cricket are over.

“I am happy and content after playing for so many years. I have no interest in playing for Pakistan again,” said Malik. “I have already announced my retirement from two formats. I continue to play league cricket and try to make the most of every opportunity I get.”

When asked about his retirement from T20 International cricket, the former captain indicated that he would soon retire from all forms of the game. “I have no interest, but as I mentioned in my previous interviews, I will announce my retirement from all forms of cricket once and for all.”

In addition to his retirement plans, Malik offered advice to current Pakistan captain Babar Azam, suggesting that he step down from the white-ball captaincy to focus solely on his batting. “As far as his captaincy is concerned, my stance is that Babar Azam should play only as a player. That’s my opinion. When he plays as a player, he can do wonders for the team. He should stay away from leadership.” Shoaib Malik made his international debut in 1999 and has since represented Pakistan in 35 Tests, 287 ODIs, and 124 T20 Internationals. He has scored over 11,000 runs across all formats and taken a total of 218 wickets. In T20 cricket, he is the second-highest run-scorer with 13,360 runs, behind only West Indies legend Chris Gayle, who has 14,562 runs.