Shoaib

Malik

Shoaib Malik Biography and Career

Shoaib Malik is an all-rounder and former Pakistan captain who played for the national team and currently plays for Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League. He is one of the few players who debuted in the 1990s and is still an active cricketer. 

Born in Sialkot, Pakistan in a Punjabi family, Malik first started playing tape ball cricket on the streets of Sialkot. He was 12 when he got serious about the game when he attended one of Imran Khan’s travelling coaching clinics. A batsman initially, Malik also developed his off-spin later on and became an asset for whichever team he played for. 

He did not get a lot of support from his family who wanted him to focus on his studies like most parents in the subcontinent. However, his heart was stuck with cricket. He was selected for the Under-15 World Cup in 1996 and made his first-class debut in the 1997-98 season. 

Malik was only 17 when he made his ODI debut against West Indies in Sharjah. He didn’t get a chance to bat but picked up two wickets with his off-spin as Pakistan won by 130 runs. Two years later, Malik made his Test debut against Bangladesh. He once again did not get a chance to bat, but picked up two wickets. 

Malik’s greatest strength was that he could bat at any given position and could bowl in any phase. And, that’s what he did throughout his career. 

However, his career hasn’t been free of incidents. In 2001, Malik was first called for chucking. The PCB advisors concluded that his normal deliveries were fine but his doosra was problematic and he was allowed to bowl only his off-breaks. In 2004, Malik was reported to the ICC again for a “potentially flawed bowling action” and it took him eight months to clear his action and bowl again in international cricket. 

In 2006, Malik batted for an entire day against Sri Lanka in Colombo to salvage a draw for his team. He had opened the batting for his team that day and scored an unbeaten 148. In 2015, Malik scored an epic 245 against England, while batting at No. 3 in a Test in Abu Dhabi which ended in a draw.

Malik was named captain of the Pakistan team after Inzamam-ul-Haq’s resignation after the 2007 ODI World Cup. There were a number of contenders at the time such as Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf. But Pakistan went for a young captain in Malik. 

He captained the side for two years till 2009, but was ousted following a scathing report from the then coach and manager which said that Malik was "a loner, aloof and involved in his own little world, which is OK but not when the team required a fully committed captain  We do not see any meaningful communication between players and captain other than his five-minute talk during the team meeting."

Malik had to step down from captaincy and Younis took over soon after. He, however, took charge of Pakistan in 2019 when regular captain Sarfaraz was not around.

Malik played 35 Tests, 284 ODIs and 124 T20Is and played franchise cricket all over the world. He finally called time on his international career in 2024. Over the years, he has played franchise cricket in the BBL, BPL, CPL, LPL, PSL and even in county cricket. Malik was also part of the IPL for one season in 2007 and he played for Delhi Daredevils, but without any massive returns.

While Malik might have retired from international cricket, he is still plying his trade with Karachi in the PSL.

Beyond Cricket

Malik was married to Ayesha Siddiqui in 2002 and divorced her in April 2010. He was also reportedly dating Indian actress Sayali Bhagat when he was supposed to make his Bollywood debut in 2008. Both people denied these reports. 

In April 2010, Malik married Indian tennis star Sania Mirza in Hyderabad, India. Their wedding received a lot of online media attention. The couple have a son together, who was born in October 2018. In January 2024, the Mirza family announced that Malik and Sania had been separated for a few months. Malik married Pakistan actress Sana Javed in January 2024. 

Malik is quite popular on social media and has 2.5 million followers on Instagram, while on Twitter he has 4 million followers. 

In 2021, Malik turned to entrepreneurship and launched his perfume brand, Allrounder. He made his acting debut in 2022 in a webseries and has also acted in a movie. Apart from this, Malik works as an analyst and also a host.

Controversies

In 2010, Ayesha Siddiqui, Malik’s first wife, filed a police complaint against him for cheating on her. Then, in 2010 Malik was banned by the PCB after the management alleged that he misbehaved with the team management during the 2009-10 Australia tour. He was fined PKR 2 million. 

In the 2004-05 season, Malik was handed a one-Test match ban by the Pakistan Cricket Board after he admitted to deliberately losing a T20 match for Sialkot Stallions against Karachi Zebras which knocked Lahore Eagles out of the T20 Cup that season. An inquiry was setup which concluded that the incident "damaged Pakistan's cricketing image and had shown disrespect to the crowd", but that "his actions were not part of any match-fixing with no financial implications, but were an immature attempt to express his disappointment at earlier decisions in the competition that he felt went against his side."

He has been pulled up for a suspect action twice in 2001 and 2004, but has been cleared each time. In April 2024, Pakistan actress Nawal Saeed revealed that Malik had been sending her flirtatious messages on her social media handles. 

Shoaib Malik Records 

Shoaib Malik Test Records

• Malik picked up two wickets during his Test debut against Bangladesh 
• He retired from Test cricket in 2015

Shoaib Malik T20I Records

• Malik was part of the 2009 T20 World Cup-winning team. He played in all the games that tournament
• He has the fourth-highest runs for Pakistan in T20I cricket - 2423 in 123 matches
• Malik was named in the Pakistan squad for the 2021 T20 World Cup, where he scored the joint-fastest fifty of the tournament

Shoaib Malik ODI records

• Malik has batted in every position in ODI cricket, barring No. 11
• His highest ODI score came against India in Colombo in 2004
• In 2017, Malik was part of the Pakistan squad that won the Champions Trophy for the first time

Shoaib Malik international records

• At the age of 25, Malik was Pakistan’s fourth-youngest captain
• His best year as an international cricketer was in 2004 when he scored 895 runs in ODIs
• Malik has won a record eight domestic titles