Not only has Shoaib Malik remained relevant in the Pakistan squad, he is one of their biggest impact-players today
Two things became very clear after the conclusion of the 2015 Cricket World Cup — that One-day International (ODI) cricket was evolving rapidly in the Twenty20 era and that Pakistan was still playing as if it were the 1990s. The manner in which they played the game was akin to using an ordinary cell phone while everyone else around them was hooked on smart phones.
Needless to say, heads rolled along with a commitment made to bring about change. Fast forward to 2017 and we see a completely different team. They won the Champions Trophy in England and ended the year with a win/loss ratio of 2.0, their best since 2011. At the heart of these performances lies a core group of players who will hopefully serve Pakistan cricket for many years to come. They are young, fit and ideally suited to the modern game.
There is another man though, a veteran of 257 ODIs, who first wore the green cap in 1999. He often gets overlooked amidst this young exuberant squad. His name is Shoaib Malik. Not only has he remained relevant in the Pakistan squad, he is one of their biggest impact-players today.
Is the cricket changing Shoaib Malik or is Shoaib Malik changing cricket?
It wasn’t always this way. For a very long time, Shoaib Malik’s exact role in the team remained a mystery. He started out as an off-break bowler and eventually turned into a batting all-rounder. As a batsman, he batted at nearly every position but never cemented one as his own. He was also captain for almost two years. In the post-captaincy phase he was banned, dropped, picked again and dropped again numerous times until Zimbabwe’s arrival on these shores in 2015.
After the World Cup in 2015, there were calls for rebranding Pakistan’s ODI side, which now seems to be moving in the right direction. Shoaib Malik, since his comeback against Zimbabwe, has been the embodiment of this transformation. He has a role in the team now, the role of the enforcer, the man who gives impetus to the innings. His strike rate before his comeback series was 78.28. Since then he has batted at a strike rate of 100.98 (See Table 1).
This transformation is further validated by the rate at which he clears the boundary. Previously, he was hitting a six every 113 balls on average. Now he does so at least once every 33 deliveries. This is the kind of player that was missing from Pakistan’s batting lineup for quite some time. Yes, there was Afridi but by the end he was just a shadow of his former self. Ergo, Malik 2.0 was exactly what the doctor ordered.