Pakistan left-arm seamer Waqas Maqsood has announced retirement from international cricket. He had played a T20I in 2018.
Waqas Maqsood announces retirement
Maqsood’s lone international outing was a T20I against New Zealand, when they toured the UAE to play against New Zealand. Having already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series, Pakistan brought in Usman Shinwari and the uncapped Maqsood for Shaheen Shah Afridi and Hassan Ali for the “dead-rubber” game.
Batting first after Sarfaraz Ahmed won the toss, Pakistan posted 166-3 as Babar Azam (79 in 58 balls) and Mohammad Hafeez (53 not out in 34) got half-centuries. In response, New Zealand collapsed to 119, of which captain Kane Williamson made 60, off 38 balls.
Coming to bowl the eighth over, Maqsood conceded three boundaries to Williamson, an was taken off the attack after a 15-run over. By the time he returned, the match was as good as dusted: he took the last two wickets, of Lockie Ferguson and Seth Rance, to round off the innings and finish with 1.5-0-21-2.
Waqas did not play again, but he remained a stalwart of domestic cricket. From 81 first-class matches, he had 294 wickets at 25.07 with 11 five-wicket hauls and two ten-fors. His 9-32 for the Water and Power Development Authority against Khan Research Laboratories at Karachi in 2017/18 are the second-best figures in the first innings of a first-class match in Pakistan.
From 87 List A games, Maqsood had 87 wickets at 26.68, while his 68 T20 games fetched him 77 wickets at 7.71 over. These include PSL stints with Islamabad United and Karachi Kings.
Now 37, Maqsood has not played domestic cricket since November 2023.
Incidentally, Shinwari, who came into the XI for the same T20I, also retired earlier this week.
