Last year, Pakistan selection committee under Misbah-ul-Haq dropped former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed and experienced Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez for Australia tour.

Misbah faced criticism for dropping Malik and Hafeez for the tough tour of Australia. But according to a report Misbah and new T20I captain Babar Azam wanted to select both all-rounders, but PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani and CEO were in favour of giving opportunity to youngsters in the shortest format.

The result of the series was not unexpected. Pakistan faced whitewash in both T20Is and Tests. What else could have happened when you sent a team to Australia with inexperienced players?

After Australia debacle the PCB management made a selection U-turn and recalled Malik and Hafeez for the ongoing T20I home series against Bangladesh to save the top position in the ICC T20I team ranking.

Pakistan won only one out of their nine completed T20s last year. The Green-shirts lost to second-string Sri Lanka (0-3) at Lahore late last year and suffered a 2-0 loss in Australia.

Pakistan need to win all three T20 matches against Bangladesh to retain their top position. A 2-1 win would not be enough. Pakistan would slip below Australia who are just one point behind. Pakistan have 270 points while Australia have 269.

Fans assumed that Malik’s career was over, but the veteran cricketer made a comeback. He last played for Pakistan against South Africa early last year.

Babar defended the decision to recall Hafeez and Malik and insisted that the duo can help put Pakistan back on track. In his opinion both players had played a vital role to make Pakistan World No 1 T20 team.

Malik proved his selection right when he received the Man-of-the-Match award with an unbeaten 58. The year 2020 is the 21st successive year in which he has played at least one international match.

The 37-year-old Malik is one of the only two cricketers from the 1990s currently playing. The other is West Indies’ Chris Gayle.

Malik has played 112 T20Is. India’s Rohit Sharma (105) is the only other player to have played more than 100 T20Is.

Malik quit Test cricket in 2015. Before the Cricket World Cup 2019, he announced that this World Cup would be his last ODI tournament, but he would continue to play T20Is and professional leagues.

Malik made his ODI debut as an off-spinner on October 14, 1999, in a Champions Trophy match against West Indies. He didn’t bat as his name was on the 10th position. He took two wickets for 23 runs in eight overs.

In 20 years, Malik has played 287 ODIs, scored 7534 runs, averaging 34.55 with nine centuries and 44 fifties.

He is the only player who has batted from the first position to the 10th. In his first three matches, he was at 10th position. In the Singer Triangular series, 2000, Malik batted at number nine, just above Arshad Khan, but after showing his batting skills, he got a promotion.

In the ICC Champions Trophy 2002 Malik batted at number three. He was out of the team for the ODIs for two years after the Champions Trophy in 2013 but made a comeback after the 2015 World Cup.

After three games at the World Cup 2019 in which he scored 8, 0 and 0, he was dropped and it looked that he had played his last international tournament.

Since he has been playing since 1999, people might think that he would have featured in at least three World Cups, but he has represented Pakistan only once at the biggest stage — in 2007 in the West Indies. He played only six World Cup matches in his 20-year career, and scored 100 runs with a low average of 16.66.

Malik’s performances remained under par in Champions Trophy as well. He averaged only 23.75. He led Pakistan in 41 ODIs. As captain, he batted with more responsibility, averaging 42.43.

Malik played 35 Test matches for Pakistan, scored 1898 runs with three centuries and eight half-centuries, averaging 35.14. He took 32 wickets at an average of 47.46. He retired from Test cricket in 2015 after scoring his career-best 245 against England at Sharjah.

Malik scored 2321 runs in 112 T20Is, averaging 31.36, including eight fifties. He also took 28 wickets, averaging 23.

He led Pakistan to the final in the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 and was a key member of the T20 World Cup triumph in 2009 in England.

It remains to be seen if he can carry on his form to be considered for World T20.

khurrams87@yahoo.com