LAHORE: Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik’s exclusion from the squads announced for the New Zealand tour has come due to his intriguing attitude that divides the dressing room. It has been learnt that Malik was dropped on several grounds and one of them was his image of being a controversial figure for creating divide within the team.
His recent form however has been praiseworthy as he performed brilliantly in some of the Quaid Trophy matches. Malik was the captain of the Pakistan side that gifted the Hong Kong Super Sixes final to Australia from a position of domination. “Malik was captain and in the final Australia required 48 runs in the final over to win the match. Imran Nazir, a part time bowler, was given the ball and incredibly even in the super sixes format he conceded 48 runs bowling a number of wides and no-balls in the decisive over,” an official revealed.
He said the final over had raised eyebrows in the Pakistan Cricket Board and given Malik’s disciplinary record the selectors decided to play it safe. “If a player has scored three big hundreds in succession in domestic cricket he is always a serious contender but in Malik’s case his ouster may also be linked to non-cricketing reasons,” he said. Malik himself told the media he was extremely disappointed at not making the final squad. “What more do I have to do to prove myself.
I have scored nearly 580 runs in five innings with three centuries and I have taken 14 wickets for PIA in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and if this is not enough to win me a place back in the team I don’t know what is,” Malik said.
