One of Pakistan’s best limited over’s player Shoaib Malik will celebrate his 38th birthday on Saturday (February 1, 2020). The former Pakistan national cricket team captain made his ODI debut in 1999 against West Indies and his Test debut against Bangladesh in 2001. He was known for his elegant batting style but was a handy bowler for his team. He has over 150 wickets in the One Day Internationals along with a batting average of the mid 30s in both ODIs 30and Tests. So on the occasion of his birthday, we take a look at some of Shoaib Malik’s best performances. Shoaib Malik Becomes Third Player to Play Across Four Decades in International Cricket, Joins Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya.

Born to a Kakazai family in Sialkot, Malik had developed an interest in cricket from a very young age. One of Pakistan’s most prominent cricketer’s Imran Khan, probably had the biggest impact on him as a child as Malik started taking cricket seriously after attending Imran Khan’s coaching clinic in1993/94 in Sialkot. Shoaib Malik was selected in the Pakistan squad for the 1995 U15 World Cup in England because of his bowling. Shoaib Malik was selected as the captain of Pakistan team after Inzamam-ul-Haq’s resignation in 2007. His first series as captain was against Sri Lanka and he led his side to a 2-1 win in Abu Dhabi. He had a good record as captain in limited over as in 36 ODI matches, Pakistan won 24 and in 17 T20Is, they won 12.

115, 3/37 vs New Zealand, Lahore 2002

This was one of the finest Shoaib Malik performances in ODIs and it came against the Kiwis at Lahore. A 20-year-old Malik opened the batting along with Shahid Afridi and was as his absolute best on the day as his century helped Pakistan to reach 278/5 in 50 overs. Malik shined with the ball as well as he took three wickets in the match and helped to bowl-out the Kiwis for 212.

143, 2/42 vs India, Colombo 2004

One of the biggest matches in the world and Shoaib Malik produced a master-class against India in Colombo. First, the right-handed batsmen was brilliant with the bat as he scored his highest score in ODIs. He smashed Indian bowels all-around the park and bagged 143 runs off 127 deliveries. Then while bowling he took two big wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh to help Pakistan to a 59 run win.

245 vs England, Abu Dhabi 2015

England toured Abu Dhabi for a Test series against Pakistan in 2015 and in the first game Shoaib Malik produced a batting masterclass. The right-handed batsmen was on the crease for more than 10m hours as she scored 245 runs. He helped Pakistan to a mammoth score of 523 runs in the first innings and took two wickets as well.

Shoaib Malik has been in the game for a long time and in the T20I series against Bangladesh in January 2020, he became one of the three players to play international matches in four different decades joining Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasurya in an elite list.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 01, 2020 08:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).