Shoaib Malik retires from Test cricket, collects golden duck in final innings

Sharjah, Nov 3: In a surprise move, Pakistan's all-rounder Shoaib Malik today announced his retirement from Test cricket after the third day's play against England in the ongoing 3rd and here.

Inspired by wife Sania, Shoaib hits ton

The 33-year-old right-hander is playing in his 35th Test. He made his Test debut against Bangladesh in 2001 in Multan. On Tuesday (November 3) he was dismissed LBW for a golden duck by James Anderson. That has now turned out to be his last Test innings.

"We have some good youngsters and now is the time to retire. Family comes first. I want to focus on the 2019 World Cup," Malik told the media today.

In the first innings of the current Test, he scored 38. With his off-spin bowling he returned with career-best figures of 4/33 as England were bowled out for 306 in reply to Pakistan's 234. In the second essay, Pakistan were 146/3 at stumps on Day 3.

After the day's play, Malik arrived for the press conference at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium and stunned the media by announcing his retirement from Test cricket.

Malik had returned to the Test squad last month after a gap of 5 years, for the series against England. He was called up as a replacement for the injured Azhar Ali.

He justified the selection by hitting a in Abu Dhabi but could since then he had low scores of 0, 2, 7, 38 and 0.

He has ended his Test career with 1,898 runs from 35 matches with 3 centuries and 8 fifties at an average of 35.14.

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