Despite being cleared by PCB’s Integrity Committee, Shoaib Mailk is not sure of travelling to Zimbabwe along with the national cricket team which is set to leave on August 25. The Pakistan Cricket Board has said that the former captain can now be considered for selection but his accompanying the team is not sure. “Yes, Malik can now be considered for the national selection and even for the Zimbabwe tour but obviously the national selectors and tour selection committee now first need to discuss their plans regarding Malik,” a PCB official reported to have said.
Pakistan are scheduled to play one Test, three ODIs and a Twenty20 match on the tour. The official said that the Board has left it to the tour selection committee and national selectors to decide the next course of action. There are indications that Malik could join the team for the limited-over matches in September. “The problem is that nothing is ready for him to travel immediately with the team to Zimbabwe and the selectors have also discussed nothing so far,” one source said.
He said there were bright chances that the selectors will agree to pick Malik for the ODIs and T20 matches. The PCB integrity committee on Friday cleared Malik, who was not able to get clearance from the committee since last December because of doubts over his earnings. The committee had refused to clear Malik after doubts emerged over deposited amounts in his foreign bank accounts with the former captain unable to satisfy the committee about his sources of income and how he had spent it. After several hearings with the latest one on Friday, the allrounder finally managed to get clearance by submitting all the relevant documents. The deposits came to light after the spot-fixing scandal broke out in England last year and the PCB directed all the players to submit their complete assets and bank account details as part of its new anti-corruption measures.
