<p class="title">Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik announced his retirement from the 50-over format shortly after his team bowed out of the Cricket World Cup, narrowly missing out on a semi-finals spot.</p>.<p class="bodytext">All-rounder Malik, 37, played 287 one-day internationals for Pakistan and scored 7,534 runs including nine centuries. The off-spinner also picked up 158 wickets in the format.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Today was our last game, and I'm retiring from ODI cricket," Malik told reporters after Pakistan thrashed Bangladesh by 94 runs at Lord's on Friday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I had planned this for a few years ago to retire on the last Pakistan World Cup match. I'm sad that I'll be leaving a format of cricket that I loved but happy that I'll have more time to spend with my family.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This will also allow me to focus on Twenty20 cricket."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Malik, who made his debut in 1999, was the most capped player in Pakistan's current World Cup squad but was dropped after the team's humiliating loss to arch-rivals India in Manchester last month.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He managed just eight runs in his three matches, including two ducks, and took one wicket.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Malik, who led Pakistan to the final of the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007 where they lost to India, was a key member of the side's triumph in the following edition in England in 2009.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Malik, who said his goal was to play the shortest format's showpiece event in Australia next year, was congratulated by his wife Sania Mirza, the Indian tennis player.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Every story has an end, but in life every ending is a new beginning' @realshoaibmalik... u have proudly played for your country for 20 years and u continue to do so with so much honour and humility... Izhaan and I are so proud of everything you have achieved but also for who u r," Mirza said on Twitter. </p>
<p class="title">Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik announced his retirement from the 50-over format shortly after his team bowed out of the Cricket World Cup, narrowly missing out on a semi-finals spot.</p>.<p class="bodytext">All-rounder Malik, 37, played 287 one-day internationals for Pakistan and scored 7,534 runs including nine centuries. The off-spinner also picked up 158 wickets in the format.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Today was our last game, and I'm retiring from ODI cricket," Malik told reporters after Pakistan thrashed Bangladesh by 94 runs at Lord's on Friday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I had planned this for a few years ago to retire on the last Pakistan World Cup match. I'm sad that I'll be leaving a format of cricket that I loved but happy that I'll have more time to spend with my family.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This will also allow me to focus on Twenty20 cricket."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Malik, who made his debut in 1999, was the most capped player in Pakistan's current World Cup squad but was dropped after the team's humiliating loss to arch-rivals India in Manchester last month.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He managed just eight runs in his three matches, including two ducks, and took one wicket.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Malik, who led Pakistan to the final of the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007 where they lost to India, was a key member of the side's triumph in the following edition in England in 2009.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Malik, who said his goal was to play the shortest format's showpiece event in Australia next year, was congratulated by his wife Sania Mirza, the Indian tennis player.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Every story has an end, but in life every ending is a new beginning' @realshoaibmalik... u have proudly played for your country for 20 years and u continue to do so with so much honour and humility... Izhaan and I are so proud of everything you have achieved but also for who u r," Mirza said on Twitter. </p>