KARACHI: Pakistan middle-order batter Asad Shafiq brought the curtain down on his cricket career on Sunday.
The right-hander made the announcement after leading Karachi Whites to the National T20 title.
He will play three games in the upcoming Patrons Trophy for SNGPL before hanging his boots.
“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,” Shafiq told a press conference.
The 37-year-old also confirmed that he will join the Wahab Riaz-led selection committee formed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
“I have got the contract from the board and I am looking at it and hopefully it will be processed soon,” he said.
Shafiq was a key figure in the Pakistan Test batting line-up from 2010 to 2020 accumulating 4,660 runs in 77 games at an average of 38.19 including 12 hundreds and 27 fifties.
“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.”
Shafiq also opened up about the difficult period of time Pakistan team faced after the spot-fixing scandal in 2010.
“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,” he said.
Asad also featured in 60 ODIs and 10 T20 Internationals for Pakistan over the course of his career.
The Karachi-born scored over 12,000 runs in 191 First-Class matches. Meanwhile, he notched up 5,784 runs in 162 List A matches.
Shafiq was also given a guard of honour by his teammates as he left the field on Sunday.
Faizan Lakhani Faizan Lakhani is Deputy Editor (Sports) at Geo News.