Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik announced his retirement from the 50-over format shortly after his team bowed out of the Cricket World Cup, narrowly missing out on a semifinals spot.
All-rounder Malik, 37, played 287 one-day internationals for Pakistan and scored 7,534 runs including nine centuries. The off-spinner also picked up 158 wickets in the format.
“Today was our last game, and I’m retiring from ODI cricket,” Malik told reporters after Pakistan thrashed Bangladesh by 94 runs at Lord’s on Friday.
“I had planned this for a few years ago to retire on the last Pakistan World Cup match. I’m sad that I’ll be leaving a format of cricket that I loved but happy that I’ll have more time to spend with my family.
“This will also allow me to focus on Twenty20 cricket.”
Malik, who made his debut in 1999, was the most capped player in Pakistan’s current World Cup squad but was dropped after the team’s humiliating loss to arch-rivals India in Manchester last month.
He managed just eight runs in his three matches, including two ducks, and took one wicket.
Malik, who led Pakistan to the final of the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007 where they lost to India, was a key member of the side’s triumph in the following edition in England in 2009.
Malik, who said his goal was to play the shortest format’s showpiece event in Australia next year, was congratulated by his wife Sania Mirza, the Indian tennis player.
“Every story has an end, but in life every ending is a new beginning’ @realshoaibmalik... u have proudly played for your country for 20 years and u continue to do so with so much honor and humility... Izhaan and I are so proud of everything you have achieved but also for who u r,” Mirza said on Twitter.
Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik retires from ODIs
Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik retires from ODIs
- All-rounder has played 287 one-day internationals and scored 7,534 runs
- “This will also allow me to focus on Twenty20 cricket”, off-spinner says
PIA owner says airline in talks with Boeing as privatization deal formally concludes
- PIA’s new owner Arif Habib vows to improve service delivery for passengers, buy new planes in days ahead
- Arif Habib Group secured 75 percent stake in PIA last month for $482 million after several rounds of bidding
ISLAMABAD: The new owner of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said on Thursday that the airline was in talks with aerospace manufacturer Boeing as he vowed to expand its current fleet and ensure service revamp as the government formally concluded its privatization process.
A Pakistani consortium led by the Arif Habib Group secured a 75 percent stake in the PIA last month for Rs135 billion ($482 million) after several rounds of bidding, valuing the airline at Rs180 billion ($643 million). Pakistan had previously attempted to reform the debt-ridden airline, which had accumulated more than $2.8 billion in financial losses over the years.
The Pakistani government and the Arif Habib Consortium signed the transaction documents for the PIA’s privatization during a televised ceremony in Islamabad. The event was attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, senior cabinet members and Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir.
“The money that will go into the airline will improve its services, new planes will be bought and you will see a big difference very soon,” Arif Habib, the chairman of the consortium, said.
“We have held a very extensive meeting with Boeing, we are holding a meeting with Airbus tomorrow (Friday). We are also exploring other options,” he added.
Habib vowed the airline will meet the prime minister’s expectations as far as the PIA’s performance is concerned, saying the government’s patronage would be “critical.”
Sharif congratulated the nation on the signing of the transaction documents, hoping Habib and his team would ensure PIA improves its performance, punctuality, cabin service and ground service in the days to come.
Once considered among Asia’s leading carriers, PIA struggled with chronic mismanagement, political interference, overstaffing, mounting debt and operational issues that led to a 2020 ban on flights to the European Union, UK and the US after a pilot licensing scandal. The EU and the UK lifted the bans, providing fresh momentum to the carrier.
In an exclusive interview to Arab News last month, Habib said PIA’s new management plans to more than triple its fleet to 64 aircraft from the existing 19 in up to eight years.
He also said the consortium may look to buy the government’s remaining 25 percent stake and offer part of it to a “strategic investor,” preferably a foreign airline, to make PIA more competitive.
