Pakistan's Asad Shafiq retires from all forms of cricket, set to take over as national selector

New Delhi, Dec 11: Pakistan's Asad Shafiq has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket and is expected to take up a position as a national selector.

After leading the Karachi Whites team to the National T20 title and defeating Abbottabad in the Karachi final, he declared his retirement. Due to the absence of several players on Test duty, he has consented to play three games for his department side, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines, in the resurrected Patron's Trophy, the premier department team competition. However, the Twenty20 championship match served as his ultimate farewell.

Shafiq, 37, was a key member of the Misbah-ul-Haq Test team during the 2010s and helped them to the summit of the Test rankings in August of that year.

"I'm no longer feeling that excitement and passion that I did when I first started playing the game," said Asad in the post-match presentation. "I wanted to thank all those who have helped me through my career.

"After being dropped in 2020 I kept on playing domestic cricket for three years 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."

Slightly more than 10 years after making his debut, Shafiq completed his 77 Test matches for Pakistan in 2020. After the final, he stated that he was no longer as enthusiastic about the game as he once was, although he had continued to play frequently on the home circuit.

The success of Pakistan, particularly during their years of exile in the United Arab Emirates, was largely attributed to the middle order that Shafiq, Misbah, Younis Khan, and Azhar Ali created. Throughout 77 matches, he batted predominantly at No. 6, amassing 4660 runs at an average of 38.19.

Shafiq holds the record for most Test hundreds at No. 6; he went past Sir Garry Sobers' record after one of his most memorable centuries, a 137 at the Gabba that nearly took Pakistan home in a mammoth chase of 490.