Pakistan batter Asad Shafiq has announced retirement from all forms of the game. The 37-year-old announced on Sunday.
Asad formed the backbone of the Pakistan Test batting line-up from 2010 to 2020 scoring 4660 runs in 77 games at a healthy average of 38.19 including 12 hundreds and 27 fifties. Asad along with Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, and Misbah ul Haq formed the core of Pakistan's Test batting.
He was seen as the perfect candidate for refreshing the image of Pakistan cricket after the 2010 spot-fixing scandal. He was clean and non controversial and throughout his career he preferred to keep away from the media and limelight.
“I am not feeling the same excitement and passion playing cricket and neither do I have the same fitness levels required for international cricket. Which is why I have decided to say goodbye to all cricket,” Shafiq told reporters after leading Karachi Whites to the National T20 Championship title.
AUS v PAK 2023-24: Abrar Ahmed ruled out of 1st Test in Perth; Pakistan names replacement
The batter further confirmed that he is about to sign a contract with the Pakistan Cricket Board to be a paid national selector.
“I have got the contract from the board and I am looking at it and hopefully it will be processed soon,” he added.
Asad also said he had never been pressured to take any decisions in his international cricket and he always did what he felt was best.
“After being dropped in 2020 I kept on playing domestic cricket for three years yes in the hope of getting another crack at the Pakistan team. But before the start of this season I had decided this would be my last season because I felt that closing in on 38 years of age this was time to retire instead of people telling me to step down,” Asad said.
Asad, who also played 60 ODIs and 10 T20 Internationals, indirectly admitted that perhaps in Pakistan cricket there was a tendency to select players on likes and dislikes.
(PTI inputs)
