These days there is no news in the world except coronavirus. Sports world has also been affected badly. Almost all major sporting events have been postponed or cancelled because of the COVID-19 attack. Cricket grounds around the world wear a deserted look. The same is the situation in Pakistan.

But interestingly these days there is a war of words on social media between cricketer-turned-commentator Ramiz Raja and veteran cricketer Shoaib Malik. Though former captain Mohammad Hafeez has also been mentioned, he himself is quiet.

Some days back, Ramiz advised Malik and Hafeez to announce their retirement from international cricket to create space for youngsters. Ramiz’s argument was that Pakistan had a good pool of players and must move ahead with them.

Ramiz says that both veterans should leave international cricket gracefully instead of hanging in there in the hope of playing the T20 World Cup later this year.

According to Ramiz, both Malik and Hafeez had horrible World Cup campaigns in the 50-over format in England last year.

Malik scored just 8 runs in three matches, which included two ducks. Despite his poor form in the preceding years, the team management was confident that Malik with his vast experience would be handy for the team, but he failed to live up to the expectations. In the three matches, against England, Australia and India, he managed only 8, 0 and 0, respectively.

But still both Hafeez and Malik want to play the T20 World Cup and are not deterred by the fact that the event will take place in Australia where neither of them has a stellar record.

This was how Malik responded to Ramiz’s comments on Twitter: “Yes, @iramizraja bhai agreed. Since all 3 of us are the end of our careers let’s retire gracefully together - I’ll call and let’s plan this for 2022? @MHafeez22 #jokes,” tweeted Malik, adding an emoji and a “jokes” hashtag to lighten up the mood.

Malik retired from 50-overs cricket at the end of the 2019 World Cup and is now only active in T20I format. Malik is one of the only two cricketers currently playing who started their careers in the ‘90s. The other is West Indies’ Chris Gayle.

Earlier this month Malik said that he was fit enough to represent Pakistan in the 2023 World Cup but left his place in favour of Pakistan’s young talent. He claimed that his fitness levels are high enough that he could have been playing 50-overs cricket even in 2023 when he would be 41.

Hafeez 39, and Malik, 38, have insisted they still have plenty of cricket left in them to represent Pakistan in the T20 World Cup.

Hafeez has said that he will retire from all international cricket after the mega T20 event this year.

Malik, who retired from Tests four years ago, has said nothing about when he would quit international cricket. In 20 years, Malik has played 287 ODIs, and scored 7534 runs, averaging 34.55 with nine centuries and 44 fifties. He is a fine batsman of spin bowling, but his average is surprisingly low against fast bowlers. He is the only player who has batted from the first position to the 10th.

Against India, where mostly spinners dominate, Malik averaged 46.89. He scored four centuries and 11 fifties against India. His best ODI score, 143, also came against India.

But against Australia, England and New Zealand on their soil, his average is 30.78, 13.07 and 10.44, respectively.

Malik’s selection for the 2019 World Cup raised many questions, but he dismissed the criticism. Interestingly, Malik played only six World Cup matches in his 20-year career, and scored 100 runs with a low average of 16.66.

Malik’s performance remains under par in the major ICC tournaments. He averaged 16.66 and 23.75, in World Cup and Champions Trophy, respectively.

Malik has scored 2321 runs in 113 T20Is, averaging 31.36, including eight fifties. He also took 28 wickets, averaging 23.53.

Hafeez is also no longer a good all-rounder. His bowling is not beneficial for the team. With his bat, too, he has been failing.

When Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) awarded central contracts in August, 2018, increasing the monthly salary and the match fees, most players accepted the contracts happily, but Hafeez was not happy with his demotion from A to B category. Hafeez chose not to sign the contract. He said if PCB didn’t give him respect and restored his A category he would leave cricket. But the PCB stood firm and didn’t revise his contract.

During the tour of Zimbabwe in 2018, he was part of the squad, but did not play a single match. The presence of Fakhar, Imam and Babar leaves no room for Hafeez in any format of the game. The openers Imam and Fakhar both scored two centuries in four games against Zimbabwe.

Hafeez was axed from the 2018 Asia Cup squad as Inzamam-ul-Haq, then chairman of the national selection committee, wanted to give other players a chance.

Despite multiple skills, Hafeez failed to cement his place in his first seven years in international cricket, primarily due to his inability to convert his starts into substantial scores. He scored plenty of pretty 30s and 40s.

Hafeez has been banned as a bowler four times: in November 2014, July 2015, October 2017 and August 2019. But every time he managed to come back after remedial work on his action.

After change in bowling action, it’s not easy for a bowler to bowl with the same authority. Former off-spinner Saeed Ajmal is a prime example. Hafeez faces the same problem and is no longer an effective bowler.

In December 2018 during the Test series against New Zealand, Hafeez announced retirement from Test cricket.

Hafeez has played 55 Tests, 218 ODIs and 91 T20Is in his 17-year career. He has been most successful in ODIs, scoring 6614 runs with 11 hundreds and 38 half-centuries, at an average of 32.90.

In Test cricket, he scored 3652 runs, averaging 37.64, including 10 centuries and 12 fifties.

In the shortest format, he has scored 1992 runs with the average of 25.21, including 11 fifties.

He has also taken 53, 139 and 54 wickets in Tests, ODI and T20I, respectively.

Both Hafeez and Malik were recalled to the Pakistan team for the T20 format against Bangladesh in February after remaining on the sidelines since the World Cup in England. Chief selector and head coach Misbah-ul-Haq said: “We have lost eight of our last nine T20Is and as the number-one ranked side, this is unacceptable. We need to end our losing streak and get back to winning habits leading to the upcoming Asia Cup and ICC T20 World Cup.

“We tried alternate combinations in the series against Sri Lanka and Australia, and obviously it didn’t work the way we had expected. Hafeez and Shoaib (Malik) bring a total experience of 200 T20Is between them and if you mix these with the other youngsters we have in the side, then I think it becomes a good blend of experience and youth.”

But it’s time Misbah gave confidence to young players and finalised a 20-25 young players’ pool for the T20 World Cup. It will not be a wise decision to go back to senior players in the shortest format where young legs can be more effective.

Now both veteran players - Hafeez and Malik - have passed their prime time and they should vacate the berths for the young guns voluntarily.

The author can be reached at khurrams87@yahoo.com