Basit Ali and Shoaib Malik.
Basit Ali and Shoaib Malik. Image Credit: X

There is hardly a day when Pakistan cricket can survive without any dram, as their former middle-order batter, Basit Ali, has made a bizarre claim of accusing the former captain of the Green Brigade, Shoaib Malik, of match-fixing in his captaincy period, when he deliberately lost a game for the national side.

Malik, who has played international cricket for nearly 22 years, is one of the renowned members of the side, having collected over 11000 runs in international cricket besides picking up 218 wickets across formats for the side. He was also part of the side that became the runners-up in the 2007 T20 World Cup and later went on to claim the title in 2009.

Basit Ali, however, in his YouTube Channel, has slammed the veteran for wishfully losing a game for the Pakistan side, as the Karachi-born also slammed the PCB for appointing Malik as the mentor of the Stallions, a team where Mohammad Harris is the captain in the domestic Champions One-day Cup 2024.

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“Those people who cannot think about the country should not be appointed. Those who have admitted that they deliberately lost a match should not be the mentor. If you want evidence, I will give it. Ramiz Raja Saheb interviewed Shoaib Malik. What did he say?” Basit Ali expressed this in a video shared on his YouTube channel.

‘You can pick out of 10s of Haris from Babar Azam’s pocket”- Basit Ali

Despite serving as the leader of the national side in the white-ball format, Babar Azam, who belongs to the squad of the Stallions, wasn’t considered the captain, where Malik stated that they had been looking to groom someone new and young for the role.

“We’ve had discussions. Only those players would be selected as the captain who can be groomed into the role per, my point of view, and those who have some abilities as well. In my perspective, the skills a captain needs are different from personal performances.” The Punjab-born shared his view. “I plan on picking my captain who has the skills and can give success to Pakistan in the long run.”

The last few months have not been sweet for Babar as he failed to contribute during the recently finished T20 World Cup with 122 runs in four innings at a strike rate of just over 100, which is never going to help in the shortest format of the game of the modern era. Under his leadership, Pakistan also failed to qualify for the ‘super eight’ stage of the tournament.

Basit Ali was surprised, with the decision when the Stallions management decided to ignore the Lahore-born for the leadership position, and rather went with Haris.

“The only regret I have for Babar Azam is that everyone became captain but, Shoaib Malik did not make him the captain and went for Haris instead. From Babar Azam’s pocket, you can pick out 10s of Haris.” Basit Ali commented.

The veteran also addressed Babar as a coward for not refusing to feature in the tournament under the leadership of Haris, something which Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shahzad have done.

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Haris is a youngster in the side, as the 23-year-old Peshawar-born has smashed 126 runs in nine innings at an average of 14 and a strike rate of 127.27 with a best score of 31. In 84 T20s, the right-hander has smashed 1846 runs at a strike rate of 146.27.

“That is such a big insult to him. Babar is also a coward. He should have done it like Umar Akmal or Ahmed Shehzad refused to play.” Basit Ali concluded.