High level of confidence in Malik’s ability to lead

The Guyana Amazon Warriors is said to be in good hands this year under the captaincy of ‘Jack-of-all-trades” Shoaib Malik. Malik brings with him almost two decades of experience and is one of the most dynamic T20 cricketers.
A 17-year-old Malik debuted against West Indies in October 1999. His bowling style was a mirror motion picture of Saqlain Mushtaq and he scalped 2 wickets in his first game. But with time, batting took precedence and the first time he was promoted to number 4 in the batting order, Shoaib grabbed the bull by its horns and got a hundred against West Indies at Sharjah.
A couple of games later, he was asked to open and he vindicated the move with a splendorous ton against the Kiwis at Lahore. The bowling though continued to add to his dimension but received a jolt in 2004, when he was reported for a suspect action, only to be cleared after a few months. His batting though was enough a reason in the shorter formats to keep his place despite losing a bit of his potency thanks to his remodelled action.
Shoaib’s love for India is second to none. His three top scores in ODIs are all against India. The stand outs being – 143 in 2004 at Colombo, Sri Lanka in an Asia Cup game and a majestic 128, where he literally ‘cut’ his way through the Indian bowling attack to dismantle them in a Champions Trophy game in 2009 at Centurion. No wonder his ODI average against India is almost 50, compared to his career average which is in the mid 30’s.
His performance in the whites was a lot to be desired and didn’t really seem convincing. He debuted in 2001 in Tests and after sparring appearances retired in late 2015 against England. He had come back to the Test team after almost 5 years and celebrated that with a double hundred in his comeback Test. But he decided to hang his boots after the third Test saying he wanted to focus completely on the shorter formats.
A double ton and a couple of ducks in his swansong series talks a lot about the oscillation of inconsistency that he was as a Test performer. His greatest moment as a Test player though was a dogged 148* off 369 balls against Sri Lanka in 2006, where he batted an entire day to save the day for Pakistan. That was the first of the three tons he scored in the whites in his 35 appearances. An average of 35.14 to end with was a major disappointment for someone who had the resolve, technique and the shots to succeed in the premier format of the game.
His T20 exploits are well documented and he led Pakistan to the finale in the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 and was a key member of the T20 World Cup triumph in 2009 in England. Though he was out of favour for the ODIs for a period of 2 years after the Champions Trophy in 2013, it has never been the case in the shortest format. He plays for Karachi Kings in the PSL and has also played in the BBL and CPL for Hobart Hurricanes and Barbados Tridents respectively.
He was dropped from the ODI side after a poor campaign for Pakistan in the 2013 Champions Trophy but once he made a comeback post the 2015 World Cup, his average and Strike rates have swelled up.
The entire Guyana Amazon Warriors squad is confident in Malik’s ability to lead them to the cup. The Warriors would play their first match on August 9 against St Kitts. (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)