By Dr. Nauman Niaz
Asad Shafiq, a man who should have been playing in Australia retires from all cricket- I won’t hold back stating he was hard done. An outstanding number-six batsman who did have a torrid time moving up the order after Misbah Ul Haq & Younis Khan retired.
Asad Shafiq had a slip in form and was readily left out however a few others more liked were persisted with despite not being able to perform. Asad Shafiq, diminutive standing at 5ft 6 inches, with sound technique was part of the Pakistan team in Tests for ten years. That he struck as many centuries as Sir Garfield Sobers (10) batting at six, he ended with 12 hundreds in 77 Tests averaging 38.19.
He walloped 512 fours & 29 sixes. That he also represented Pakistan in 60 ODIs showed his diversity. He was sporadically picked in white ball cricket despite having a wide repertoire of quality shots. In 191 first class matches his aggregate of 12042 runs at 41.66 reflects his consistency & high skills.
He scored 31 hundreds & 63 half centuries including 1435 fours & 58 sixes. He averaged 41.91 in List ‘A’ cricket & 24.24 in 128 T20 matches. He started with 912 runs in his first season in first class cricket in 2007-08 with 3 hundreds including a massive 223 & in 2009-10 had returns of 1244 runs with 4 centuries.
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He was picked to make his debut in Tests versus South Africa in UAE in 2010. After being dropped he aggregated 748 runs at 53.42 in 2020-21, 523 in 2021-22, 731 at 52.51 in 2022-23 & in the current season thus far 670 runs in 8 matches at 55.83. Presumably, there was still some cricket left in him. He had been in the runs in the last three seasons & despite caveats in the Test batting lineup, he was never allowed to return to the team.
I believe he was a readymade captain with all the experience of leading various teams in domestic cricket. He should have captained Pakistan in Tests.
He retires at 37 years old and will be one of the consultants in Wahab Riaz’s selection committee. Non-controversial, gentlemanly, and fully committed individual, Asad will be remembered as a man in the crisis.
Thank you Asad Shafiq, Pakistan Test cricketer number 204.
