Archive photo of Asad Shafiq© Agence France-Presse
Pakistani batsman Asad Shafiq has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket after witnessing a decline in his passion for the game. The 37-year-old made the announcement on Sunday. “I don’t feel the same excitement and passion while playing cricket, nor do I have the same fitness levels required to play international cricket. That’s why I’ve decided to say goodbye to all types of cricket,” he said at a press conference after leading the Karachi Whites to the National T20 Championship title. Cricket.
Asad also confirmed that he was close to signing a contract with the Pakistan Cricket Board to be a paid national selector.
“I have received the contract from the board and I am looking forward to it and hope it will be processed soon.” He said serving as a national selector was an exciting challenge for him and he looked forward to continuing to be involved in the game.
Asad formed the backbone of Pakistan’s Test batting line-up from 2010 to 2020 and scored 4660 runs in 77 matches 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.
After the 2010 spot-fixing scandal in England, Asad was seen as the poster child for Pakistani cricket, clean and uncontroversial, and throughout his career he preferred to stay away from the media and the limelight.
Asad also said that he was never under pressure to make any decisions in his international cricket and always did what he felt was best.
“After being dropped from the tournament in 2020, I continued playing domestic cricket for three years, yes with the hope of getting another opportunity in the Pakistan team. But before the start of this season, I decided that this would be my last season as I felt that this was the right time to retire and it was approaching.” “At the age of 38, instead of people asking me to step down.” Asad also said that he is proud to be part of the Pakistan team under the captaincy of Misbah-ul-Haq who helped clean up the image of Pakistani cricket.
“After the spot-fixing scandal in 2010, it was a very difficult time for Pakistani cricket and I am happy to have been part of that process as we regained people’s trust in our team.
Asad, who also played 60 ODIs and 10 T20 Internationals, also indirectly admitted that perhaps there was a tendency in Pakistan cricket to select players on the basis of likes and dislikes.
When he asked whether he felt players from Karachi were not getting the same opportunities as players from other provinces, interestingly Asad did not reject the suggestion outright.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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