Pakistan middle-order batter calls time on cricket career

Asad Shafiq has bid cricket adieu after leading Karachi Whites to the National T20 Championship title. Confirming in a post-match press conference, Shafiq revealed that his passion for playing cricket was on the wane.

“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,” he said.

Asad appeared in 77 Tests, 60 ODIs, and 10 T20Is for his country. He played a key role especially in the longest format of the game for Pakistan, amassing 4660 runs which included 12 hundreds.

The batter made his final appearance for Pakistan at Southampton against England back in 2020 but continued to play domestic cricket in the hopes of making a return to international cricket.

“After being dropped in 2020 I kept on playing domestic cricket for three years 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,” said Shafiq.

Shafiq was part of the Misbah-ul-Haq squad that helped Pakistan reach the top of the MRF Tyres ICC Men's Test Team Rankings and still holds the record for hitting most centuries at No. 6 in Tests.