Out-of-favour Shoaib Malik played his best knock in ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) so far. Malik played a match-winning knock of 75 runs from just 45 deliveries for Rangpur Riders against Chattogram Challengers at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka on January 23.
The 40-year-old walked in to bat when Riders were struggling for 26/2 after five overs. Riders' top-order batters were not able to use the fielding restrictions well and managed to score 36/2 in the first six overs.
Malik did not attack from the word go and played himself in. He unleashed his attacking side after the wicket of opener Mohammad Naim in the ninth over. He hit his first six in the 10th over off left-arm spinner Taijul Islam. He followed it up with another six in his trademark style. He danced down the wicket and deposited the ball straight over the long boundary.
The veteran batter hit another set of consecutive sixes in the 14th over when Islam came to bowl his third over. He danced down the track on both occasions and cleared the ropes with ease. He hit another six in the 14th over to get to his half-century from 29 deliveries. 25 runs came off the over as Malik finished it off with a boundary.
He got support from the other end as well as Afghan batter Azmatullah Omarzai contributed with 24-ball 42 including four sixes in the 105-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
Malik did not go berserk in the slog overs but helped Riders post a fighting total of 179/6 on the board after Challengers' skipper Shuvagata Hom won the toss and asked Riders to bat first.
This was Malik’s second half-century of the ongoing edition of BPL 2023. He had not fired in the previous two games and registered scores of 9 and 10 against Khulna Tigers and Fortune Barishal respectively. So far, he has scored 225 runs from six innings at an average of 56.25.
Challengers failed to stay alive in the run chase for long as they got all out for 124 with 19 balls left in the innings. Skipper Shuvagata scored 31-ball 52 but did not have much support from other batters. Riders won the match by a margin of 55 runs. This is their third win on the tournament.
Malik made his last T20I appearance in 2021. Despite criticism of Pakistan's middle order, Malik did not get recalled into the squad. There were retirement rumours but Malik is yet to hang his boots.
