A quick glance at the squad lists reveals that even though he is 35, Pakistan's
Shoaib Malik is not the oldest player in the upcoming
Champions Trophy. South African leg-spinner
Imran Tahir, at 39, will be the oldest veteran at the tournament, the second-most important ICC event after the World Cup.
Malik, though, can rightfully claim to be the senior-most player among the 120 names listed by the eight top teams featuring in the limited-overs meet. For, Malik is t h e only player in the tournament to have made his One-day International (ODI) debut in the last millennium. The Pak all-rounder, who made his maiden appearance in limited overs cricket against the West Indies in Sharjah in October 1999, will be making his sixth consecutive appearance in the Champions Trophy, having made his debut in the 2002 edition.
It has been quite an eventful 18 years for Malik, who started his career as a 17-year-old prodigy and who was expected to take over the off-spinner's role from Saqlain Mushtaq in the Pakistan team. But as luck would have it, Saqlain played on for five more years and Malik was forced to reinvent himself as a hard-hit ting batsman in order to sustain his fledging career. Malik's suc cess with the bat not only propelled him up the order but also reversed his role. From a frontline off spinner who could bat, he became a top order bat who could bowl too.
In a career spanning near ly two decades, Malik has batted at all positions from 1 to 10 for Pakistan across all three formats with a fair amount of success. He also led his country in three Tests, 36 ODIs and 17 T20 Internationals between 2007 and 2009 before losing the hot seat. But he has not been the same bowler after he was reported for suspect action in 2004. Cleared eight months later, Malik hasn't been quite as effective with his modified bowling action. Yet, his value as a utility cricketer is so high that Pakistan have found it hard to ignore him.
In April, he struck his ninth ODI century against the West Indies, helping Pakistan to clinch the threematch series 2-1. It was enough to seal a spot in Pakistan's 15-member squad. Married to
Sania Mirza, India's son-in-law is expected to play a key role for Pakistan when the two traditional rivals clash in Birmingham on June 4. A sparkling 72 against Bangladesh in Saturday's warm-up match indicated that Malik is in good nick. It augurs well for Pakistan which has never made it to the titleround, thrice bowing out at the semifinal stage of the tournament.
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