Pacer Usman Shinwari retires from international cricket at 31

Usman Shinwari, the left-arm fast bowler, has announced his retirement from international cricket at the age of 31, bringing an end to a stop-start career with Pakistan that spanned six years.

Shinwari represented Pakistan in one Test, 17 ODIs and 16 T20Is between 2013 and 2019. He made his international debut in a T20I against Sri Lanka in Dubai in December 2013 but bowled just one over, conceding nine runs without a wicket.

Four years later, he earned his ODI cap against the same opposition in Sharjah, where he produced his career-best performance: 5 for 34 in just his second appearance. That spell saw him dismiss five Sri Lankan batters in the space of 21 balls. His second five-wicket haul in ODIs came in Karachi in September 2019, also against Sri Lanka, in what turned out to be his penultimate appearance in the format.

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His only Test match came later that year, in December 2019 in Rawalpindi, again against Sri Lanka — which also proved to be his final outing for Pakistan. A recurring back injury, however, curtailed his progress and kept him out of regular selection.

Shinwari first caught the eye of selectors in 2013 as a 19-year-old, when he demolished Misbah-ul-Haq’s Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited in the departmental T20 Cup final, returning 5 for 9 in 3.1 overs. The performance fast-tracked him into Pakistan’s T20 setup, though he struggled to replicate that dominance at the international level.

Most recently, Shinwari featured in the National T20 Cup for Quetta Region but went wicketless in four games. Despite flashes of brilliance, injuries and inconsistency meant his international career never quite fulfilled its early promise.