Shoaib Malik Reveals The Biggest Regret Of His Career
Published - 08 Jul 2020, 08:25 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:31 AM
Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has opened up on the biggest regret of his illustrious career. Shoaib Malik is one of the most experienced cricketers as of today, who made his debut in the late 90s. The 38-year old made his ODI debut in 1999 and continues to represent Pakistan as a reliable middle-order batsman in the highest level, albeit only in the shortest format. Malik retired from ODIs last year.
He was the captain of Pakistan that reached the final of the ICC T20 World Cup in 2007. However, it did not go entirely well as desired since the men in green marginally missing out on lifting the title. Instead, their arch-rivals, India beat them by six runs under the leadership of MS Dhoni. Shoaib Malik scored 195 runs in seven fixtures that tournament at 39 with two half-centuries.
As of now, the Sialkot-born cricketer has played 35 Tests, 287 ODIs, and 113 T20Is. In 287 ODIs, he has 7534 runs along with 158 wickets that have come through off-spin. Malik has captained the national in three Tests, 41 ODIs, and 20 T20Is with churning out a reasonable amount of victories in limited-overs. However, in Tests, Pakistan lost two under him while the remaining one resulted in a draw.
You cannot pick and choose when these things happen: Shoaib Malik
When asked about his biggest regret, Shoaib Malik surprisingly disclosed that taking up the task of captaincy in 2007 was the one. He resigned from the position two years later in 2009. Malik felt that if the job came along a few years later, it would have panned out well, especially in terms of man-management. Yet, he was hesitant to decline the job when it was offered.
“I feel that accepting the Pakistan captaincy in 2007 was probably the main regret. “It’s hard to say no when you are asked to lead your country but in hindsight, I would have been a much better captain, especially in terms of man-management, had this honour come along a few years later in my career. However, you cannot pick and choose when these things happen,” the veteran batsman told Pakpassion.net.
The most capped player in T20Is further admitted that even though he gave up the job, Malik had a hunch that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) were already looking for other candidates.
“I actually resigned from the captaincy, though I think the Pakistan Cricket Board had already made up their mind by then and wanted a change of captain anyway,” he added.
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