Former Pakistan player Basit Ali has questioned the decision to make Shoaib Malik the mentor of the Stallions team in the Champions Cup, saying he had brought disgrace to the country after he deliberately lost a game for his team in the past.
Pakistan’s new showpiece tournament, the Champions Cup, began on September 12 with five teams participating. Each side, which has several international players, is being mentored by veterans, including Misbah-ul-Haq, Saqlain Mushtaq, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Waqar Younis.
Basit, who represented Pakistan for three years from 1993, has questioned the choice of Malik as a mentor, accusing him of purposely losing a match previously: “A player who doesn’t think of his country, he shouldn’t be made [the mentor]. The player who admits he has purposely lost a game, should not be the mentor. If you want evidence, I shall give it.”
Basit Ali 🗣️
— ЅᏦᎽ (@13hamdard) September 11, 2024
Shoaib Malik ne jaan bhoj k match harwaye hai i have proof
Usko mentor nahi banana chahye #PakistanCricket #BabarAzam pic.twitter.com/U4OWRPjmnH
Incidentally, Basit was also allegedly involved in match-fixing scandals that led to the premature end of his career.
When Shoaib Malik was banned for a Test in 2005
While the game being referred to by Basit is not confirmed, Malik had been embroiled in controversy and was suspended for a Test match after he accepted to deliberately losing a domestic T20 match back in 2005.
The former captain admitted to engineering a four-run defeat for his side Sialkot Stallions against Karachi Zebras during the National T20 Cup, a result he thought would knock the Lahore Eagles out of the competition.
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According to reports, Malik was shown video footage of the incident and later admitted to throwing the game. He later apologised for his actions, suggesting it was “in the heat of the moment”, but it could not prevent a one-Test match ban. As a result, he missed the first Test against the West Indies in Barbados in May.
Malik was punished under clauses 2.9 and 2.11 of the International Cricket Council’s Code of Conduct and was also fined 75% of his match fees for the first two ODIs in the West Indies.
The three-member inquiry committee also severely reprimanded the Sialkot team management for manipulating the result of the match.
Malik left out of the team for a year in 2010 due to bank account discrepancies
Five years later, Malik found himself in another controversy and was left out of the team due to allegations of illegal earnings. He had failed to explain a large sum of money (approximately GBP 90,000) in an overseas bank account to the integrity committee of the PCB that had been formed following the spot-fixing scandal during Pakistan’s tour to England in 2010.
“Malik was unable to explain where the money came from, its source and how it was in his account. That was the reason why he was not cleared for selection," the report in The Dawn said.
He also missed the ODI World Cup in 2011, as a result, and was only cleared for selection after a thorough investigation in August.
Malik had also been sidelined in early 2010 for being a negative influence on the side with several senior players complaining against him after an ugly revolt against Younis Khan. He was initially banned for a year, which was later lifted abruptly.
Malik’s BPL contract terminated in 2024
Malik’s contract in the Bangladesh Premier League with team Fortune Barishal was terminated this year after he bowled three no-balls in one over against Khulna Tigers. The action of the spinner raised suspicions of match-fixing, with the team’s owner Mizanur Rahman expressing dissatisfaction with Malik and demanding an inquiry into the incident.
Malik, however, refuted the claims.
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