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Former Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik received a special guard of honour after making his 500th T20 match appearance when he took the field for the Rangpur Riders in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) on Friday, February 4. Malik's Rangpur-based side played against the Dhaka Dominators, and the 41-year-old all-rounder is only the third cricketer to reach the landmark after West Indian stars Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo.
Malik is also the only player with over 12,000 runs and 150-plus wickets in T20 cricket. He has 12,280 runs in 499 games and is also the second-highest run-getter in T20s after legendary West Indian Chris Gayle, who is sitting right at the top with 14,562 runs to his name in 463 matches.
Pollard is at the third spot with 11,915 runs in 614 matches followed by Australia's Aaron Finch — 11392 in 382 games — and India's former skipper Virat Kohli has 11,326 runs in 360 T20s so far.
His Rangpur teammates stood near the boundary line and applauded Malik, who entered the pitch with fireworks. Malik did not bowl as his teammates, led by Azmatullah Omarzai, kept their opponents at bay to reduce them to just 130/8 in 20 overs. In response, Malik scored seven runs in five balls as skipper Nurul Hasan scored 61 runs in 33 balls to help his team chase down the total in 19.3 overs.
Malik has also been a stalwart for the international team. Having made his T20 debut in 2005 for the Lahore Eagles, Malik went on to play 124 T20Is for Pakistan, scoring 2435 runs, including nine half-centuries.
