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Asad Shafiq (Urdu

Urdu

Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

: , born 28 January 1986 in Karachi

Karachi

Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...

) is a Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

i international cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er. A right-hand batsman and occasional leg-break bowler, he made his One Day International debut against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup

2010 Asia Cup

The 2010 Asia Cup was the tenth edition of the Asia Cup cricket tournament, which was held in Sri Lanka from 15–24 June 2010. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were taking part in the competition. India defeated Sri Lanka by 81 runs in the final to win a record 5th Asia Cup title...

 on 21 June 2010.

He has played for Karachi Whites, Karachi Blues, Karachi Dolphins

Karachi Dolphins

The Karachi Dolphins is a cricket team based in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan that plays in the Pakistan Twenty20 Cup. The team is captained by Mohammad Sami and coached by Azam Khan. The National Stadium is the Dolphins' home ground...

, Karachi Zebras

Karachi Zebras

The Karachi Zebras are a Pakistan Super League team, based in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. The team was established in 2006 and its home ground is National Stadium. The team is one of several proposed franchises for the Pakistan Super League...

, North West Frontier Province and Sind.

International Debut

Shafiq made his International debut against Bangladesh in the 2010 Asia Cup

2010 Asia Cup

The 2010 Asia Cup was the tenth edition of the Asia Cup cricket tournament, which was held in Sri Lanka from 15–24 June 2010. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were taking part in the competition. India defeated Sri Lanka by 81 runs in the final to win a record 5th Asia Cup title...

 at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium

Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium

Dambulla International Cricket Stadium is a 30,000 seat cricket stadium in Sri Lanka. The Stadium is situated in the Central Province, close to Dambulla on a 60 acre site leased from the Rangiri Dambulla Temple...

 he scored 17 runs from 19 balls and was stumped by Mushfiqur Rahim

Mushfiqur Rahim

Mohammad Mushfiqur Rahim is a Bangladeshi cricketer and captain of the national team. Between August 2009 and December 2010 Rahim served as Bangladesh's vice-captain. He specialises as a wicket-keeper and is a lower-order batsman...

 in what was a dead rubber as neither side could progress to the final. Shafiq was next selected when three Pakistani players were involved in Spot-fixing

Spot-fixing

Spot-fixing refers to illegal activity in a sport where a specific part of a game is fixed. Examples include something as minor as timing a no ball or wide delivery in cricket or timing the first throw-in or corner in association football. Spot-fixing attempts to defraud bookmakers illegally by...

 allegations the three players Mohammad Aamer

Mohammad Aamer

Mohammad Amir , also known as Mohammad Aamer, is a Pakistani international cricketer, whose suspension and subsequent five year ban curtailed his promising career. He is a left-arm fast bowler, who opened the bowling in all formats of the game. He made his first-class debut in 2007, and his...

, Mohammad Asif and test captain Salman Butt

Salman Butt

Salman Butt is a former Pakistani cricketer who was a regular Test and ODI left-handed opening batsman. He made his Test debut on 3 September 2003 in the third Test against Bangladesh, and a year later made his ODI debut against West Indies on 22 September 2004. He was appointed captain of the...

 Shafiq was selected along side fast bowler emerging fast-bowler Mohammad Irfan

Mohammad Irfan

Mohammad Irfan is a Pakistani left-arm medium-fast bowler, hailing from Punjab. In an interview with Pakpassion, Irfan has confirmed his height is indeed 7'1 inches, after speculations...

. He got his maiden fifty in ODI cricket against England on the 12th of September 2010.

Series against South Africa (October 2010)

On the back of his good performances during the tour he was selected to play in the five-match ODI series against South Africa and a two-match test series against them as well He was promoted to opener in the first two ODI's and struggled in the role, therefore he was moved down the order to his perferred number 4 position just below Younis Khan, Shafiq excelled in that position and displayed his talent as a batsman. He was however rested for the final ODI in place of veteran Mohammad Yousuf.

Shafiq was not selected for the first test match in the two match test series against South Africa but after a horrible stroke by Umar Akmal he made his debut in the following match scoring 61 in his debut innings but not getting a chance to bat in the second innings as Pakistan already managed to salvage a draw.

New Zealand series

Shafiq was selected for the New Zealand series but didn't play the first Twenty20 International, Pakistan performed poorly and therefore Shafiq was given his debut the following match in place of left-handed Fawad Alam

Fawad Alam

Fawad Alam is a Pakistani first-class cricketer. He is primarily a left-handed batsman but bowls handy slow left-arm orthodox. His father Tariq had a long first class career in Pakistan.- Career :...

. Shafiq then made his test debut against New Zealand and played both matches as Pakistan won the two-test series 1-0. During the first match of the series Shafiq scored 83 in the first innings and was not required to bat in the second innings as Pakistan won by 10 wickets.

World Cup 2011

Shafiq was selected for the World Cup squad but did not play in the first four matches, before making his debut against Zimbabawe in the fifth match, inplace of an injured Umar Akmal, in which he scored his highest ODI score of 78*, guiding Pakistan to a 7 wicket win.

In his last match against Australia, Shafiq has played a very matured inning of a composed 46 runs, anchoring and setting up a good platform for later players to finish a win - putting the Pakistani team at the top of their pool.

He also scored a watchful 30 runs against India in the semi-final in Mohali.

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