SIX months ago it was inconceivable that someone like Shoaib Malik would ever make a comeback to the Pakistan ranks, considering his being overlooked for the 2015 World Cup after being named among the 30 probables.

But since the mega event in Australia and New Zealand concluded, retirements of Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi forced the powers-that-be in our cricketing set-up to fall back on Malik because they believed, and right so, that experience do matter in the post-World Cup scenario.

In the period away from the national team before and since his last international appearance against the West Indies at the World Twenty20 in Dhaka on the April Fool’s Day in 2014, Malik generally had been plying his trades in the T20 format across the globe from Australia’s Big Bash to the Caribbean Premier League in the West Indies.

And when Mohammad Hafeez was rendered ineligible to bowl because of the ICC crackdown on suspect bowling action and then suffered a calf muscle injury on eve of the World Cup, Malik emerged as the logical replacement for his fellow off-spinning all-rounder.

But astonishingly, the then chief selector Moin Khan plumped for the inclusion of Nasir Jamshed, a decision which ultimately yielded disastrous results. Moin and his fellow selectors probably had a strong case to ignore the claims of Malik, whose last outing in a One-day International was during the ICC Champions Trophy clash against India at Edgbaston in June 2013.

And as the saying goes performance counts, Malik had a reason to succeed this time round. At 33, he clearly was aware of the fact that he just couldn’t afford another slip-up and marked his return to the ODI fold last May with an eighth one-day ton at Lahore when Zimbabwe became the first full-fledged side to visit Pakistan since the terror attacks on the Sri Lankan team in 2009.

Only Pakistan ODI captain Azhar Ali, Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad have scored more one-day runs this year than Malik, who is the only one across the globe to average 100 among the batters who have made at least 400 runs in 2015. A tally of 500 runs in 11 matches is quite impressive contrary to what a number of critics may think otherwise.

While announcing the Test squad for the upcoming series against England, the selectors left ajar the door for a 16th player. Had Bilal Asif not reported for suspect bowling action by match officials to the ICC the day after Pakistan had clinched the one-day series at Harare, the 30-year-old off-spinner was a certainty for the vacant spot.

Sensing the gravity of the ICC ruling, the Pakistan think-tank — Misbah and head coach Waqar Younis — pressed the selectors for Malik’s induction in the Test side, while refusing to take any chance with Bilal.

Malik had been out of this the longest form of cricket for more than five years now and during this period Pakistan have played 42 Tests, all away from home, of course for security reasons.

Although he appears to have cemented his place in both the ODI and T20 formats, Malik obviously knows in his mind that he cannot walk straightaway into the playing XI when the England series starts from Tuesday at Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Stadium despite Misbah hinting a key role for him at Wednesday’s media conference.

Judging by the veteran skipper’s words of praise Malik well could be playing his first Test since the second game of the ill-fated 2010 series at Edgbaston. But the big question is who he will replace given the settled composition of the Pakistan middle-order batting?

Azhar, Younis Khan, Misbah and Asad Shafiq have all weathered together through both good and bad days for a considerable time at the Test match level since the spot-fixing surfaced five years ago. They have done reasonably well to merit automatic selection in the playing XI.

The only position that Malik could challenge is at the top of the order, a spot something not anew for him. He opened the Test innings when England and India toured the country in 2005-06 and posted his highest score of 148 not out in that role against Sri Lanka at the SSC Ground that same season to finish with 426 runs at a respectable average of 42.60 in seven matches.

Malik’s Test statistics overall are not as lofty as he would have wanted chiefly because he had not been able to command a regular spot, a fact gauged by the number of times he had been out of the side.

Since debuting in the one-off game against Bangladesh at Multan in August 2001 Malik has had an inconsistent run in 32 appearances, averaging 33.45 while making 1,606 runs from 54 visits to the crease and adding just another century — 134, also against Sri Lanka at his favourite SSC Ground in 2009 — to his record.

Shan Masood, the 25-year-old opener, is almost certain to play at Abu Dhabi next week purely on the back of a maiden century (125) when he and Younis set the platform for victory in the series-clinching last Test against Sri Lanka in July.

And being the solitary left-hander among Pakistan’s top seven batsmen, the Kuwait-born Shan becomes an automatic selection, come what may.

That will leave Ahmed Shehzad and the enigmatic Hafeez vying alongside Malik for the other opening slot to deal with England bowling whose main strength lies in the pace attack. Despite the docile nature of the UAE pitches and the existing hot conditions at this time of the year there, the likes of Anderson, Broad, Finn and Stokes will pose a few problems for Pakistan.

Misbah, by his own admission, stated the other day Malik’s bowling would be a factor against England left-handers and in addition, will provide another option for first-choice spinners Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar to rest between spells.

Perhaps, Misbah did not take into account his bowling record in Test cricket, which is extremely mediocre as compared to the ODI stats (147 wickets at 36.53). A tally of 21 wickets at 61.47 is not going make the English batsmen shiver in their boots and in recent seasons, one has seldom noticed him turning his arm over for lengthy spells in domestic first-class matches.

Another key element which Misbah, coherently, has overlooked is that Malik has not played any first-class match since last December when led ZTBL against Wapda in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy fixture at Multan.

It is something of a dilemma that could go against Malik particularly at the beginning of the series next week.

One also should not forget that after once England series is over, Malik is unlikely to play any first-class cricket back home because his current employers, ZTBL, are almost on verge of missing out qualifying for the revamped Quaid-i-Azam Trophy, while his region Sialkot have already failed to make the cut.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2015

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