Stats: Ageless Malik plays 500th T20 in Mirpur

A 23-year-old Shoaib Malik made his T20 debut for Sialkot Stallions at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Since then, the veteran all-rounder has played T20 cricket all over the world - for Pakistan and numerous franchises. 18 years later, on a chilly Friday evening, Malik played his 500th T20 match at the Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur. 

Malik has just turned 41 but to his own admission, his fitness is "like a 25-year-old". In his storied 18-year career in T20s, Malik has played for a jaw-dropping 27 teams.

The all-rounder became only the third cricketer in T20 history to play 500 T20 matches. The first man to do so was Kieron Pollard and then his compatriot DJ Bravo followed suit.

In a 17-year T20I career, Malik played 123 T20Is for Pakistan (and one for ICC XI), the most by anyone for his country. Only India's Rohit Sharma (148) has played more T20Is than him.

With 12,280 runs (prior to his 500th match), Malik is the second-highest run-getter in T20 history, only behind the legendary Chris Gayle (14,562). Malik's 75 fifty-plus scores is the seventh-highest in the world. Predominantly a middle-order batter, Malik never got a T20 hundred with his best score being 95.

Malik often rolls his arm over and with his uncanny but accurate off-spin, he has picked up 162 T20 wickets with two five-fors. He has 41 player-of-the-match awards in T20s, only behind Gayle (60) and AB de Villiers (42).

After his debut in 2005, Malik didn't have any duck for 89 innings in a row which was a record at that time. It was broken later by Worcestershire's Ben Cox in 2019, registering his first duck in 96th innings.

The match against Dhaka Dominators was his 51st BPL appearance. He received a guard of honour from his Rangpur Riders teammates and got an autographed jersey from them. Malik has 1,276 runs at the BPL with eight fifties, the second-most by an overseas player.