Pakistan Test batter Asad Shafiq has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket after experiencing a dip in his passion for the game.
The 37-year-old made the announcement on Sunday.
“I am not feeling the same excitement and passion playing cricket and neither do I have the same fitness levels required for international cricket. Which is why I have decided to say goodbye to all cricket,” he told a press conference after leading Karachi Whites to the National T20 Championship title.
Asad also confirmed he was about to sign a contract with the Pakistan Cricket Board to be a paid national selector.
“I have got the contract from the board and I am looking at it and hopefully it will be processed soon.” He said working as a national selector was an exciting challenge for him and he would look to remain involved in the game.
Asad formed the backbone of the Pakistan Test batting line-up from 2010 to 2020 scoring 4660 runs in 77 games at a healthy average of 38.19 including 12 hundreds and 27 fifties.
Asad along with Azhar Ali, Younis Khan and Misbah ul Haq formed the core of Pakistan’s Test batting.
After the spot-fixing scandal of 2010 in England, Asad was seen as the perfect image of Pakistan cricket, clean and non controversial and throughout his career he preferred to keep away from the media and limelight.
Asad also said he had never been pressured to take any decisions in his international cricket and he always did what he felt was best.
“After being dropped in 2020 I kept on playing domestic cricket for three years yes in the hope of getting another crack at the Pakistan team. But before the start of this season I had decided this would be my last season because I felt that closing in on 38 years of age this was time to retire instead of people telling me to step down.” Asad also said he was proud to have been part of the Pakistan team under Misbah ul Haq which helped clean the image of Pakistan cricket.
“After the spot-fixing scandal in 2010 it was a very difficult time for Pakistan cricket and I am happy I was part of that process where we won back the confidence of the people in. Our team.
Asad, who also played 60 ODIs and 10 T20 Internationals, indirectly also admitted that perhaps in Pakistan cricket there was a tendency to select players on likes and dislikes.
Questioned whether he felt that players from Karachi were not given the same opportunities as those from other provinces, Asad interestingly didn’t directly refuse this suggestion.