Experienced Pakistan batsman Shoaib Malik created history on Sunday by becoming the fourth batsman in the history of T20 cricket to score 9,000 runs.
The veteran all-rounder reached the milestone during the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) batting for Guyana Amazon Warriors. He made 32 of 19 balls to join an exclusive club that includes Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum and Kieron Pollard.
It was a memorable day for Malik as he played his part in taking the Warriors to the final. The 37-year-old has been in great form in the CPL, hitting two fifties and remaining unbeaten seven times in his last 10 outings while also picking up six wickets. He is the sixth-highest run-scorer in CPL this season with 313 runs from 11 matches.
Malik’s fine performance has coincided with Pakistan’s struggles in T20s. The No 1 T20 team was thrashed by 64 runs by Sri Lanka in the first T20 in Lahore, which took the team’s record to four defeats in five T20s in 2019.
Malik was earlier dropped from Pakistan’s annual contracts list after he retired from ODIs following a disappointing World Cup. On Sunday, Malik’s long-time teammate Younis Khan put his weight behind him, claiming Malik should have remained a part of the white-ball team and that too as captain.
“Where is Shoaib Malik? They say he is not part of our future plans. That is very unfair. If he had performed well at the World Cup, he would have been the ODI and T20 captain,” Younis told PTV Sports.
