Veteran Pakistan Spinner Hints at Cricket Retirement After Talks with PCB

Yasir Shah, a veteran leg-spinner of Pakistan, has given an indication that his long and fruitful career in the sport could end soon. The discussion began when he announced that he is not playing domestic cricket this season and he is in talks with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) regarding his future.

Yasir may be retiring at the age of 39. He told ARY News, in an exclusive interview: I am not playing domestic cricket this year. With God willing, I will make my final decision by meeting with the PCB.

Yasir has had a very good record as a cricketer in Pakistan, especially in Test cricket: in his 48 Test matches, he had 244 wickets, averaging 31.38. He was also the fastest Pakistani bowler to take 200 Test wickets, which he did in his 33 Test matches.

Although he was successful in the longer form, the statistics of Yasir playing the white ball were not so dominating. His 25 One Day Internationals (ODIs), where he had 24 wickets at an average of 47.91, showed that he had only 2 appearances in T20 Internationals and did not make much impact.

In retrospect of not being in the national team, Yasir alluded that he was not non-selected based on performance. He reported having a previous knee injury and stated: I had a knee injury before and they thought it had come back. I informed them that if the problem was about fitness, then they should carry out a fitness test. But no such reason was officially stated.

Yasir also remarked on the form of the present team of Pakistan and change of leadership. He even gave the squad his backing saying: The Pak team is performing well. They are the last two T20 matches winners. We always pray to them. With reference to the fact that former wicket-keeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan has been ousted as captain of the ODI team, and has been omitted in the T20 team, Yasir has given us a prudent point of view that Rizwan is doing that as well. The selectors take any player, and the rest of the team supports him regardless of who that player is the captain.

Pakistan cricket fans and the analysts act as observers as he makes his decision, on whether one of the most successful Test bowlers of the country will declare that his boots are officially capped.