Johannesburg, Sep. 28 : Pakistani batsman Shoaib Malik has attributed his match-winning innings against India in Centurion to the fact that he always tries to give his best against arch-rival India.

“My record against India speaks for itself. I try to give my best against India and that is why I have been able to score four out of seven of my hundreds against them,” The News quoted Malik, as saying.

Malik said he and partner Mohammad Yousuf mainly concentrated on the cover area to steal as many runs as possible.

Centurion, Sep. 27 : Pakistan middle-order batsman Shoaib Malik has refused to open the innings in case the team management decides to send him up the batting order as the regular openers have not been so successful in the ongoing Champions Trophy, The News reports.

According to sources privy to the Pakistani dressing room, Malik is reluctant to open the innings which has forced the team management to drop Misbah-ul Haq in order to accommodate captain Younis Khan.

Karachi, sep. 17 : Former Pakistan all rounder captain Shoaib Malik has described the forthcoming ICC Champions Trophy tougher than the World Cup and said that any of the eight participating teams could win the coveted trophy as there were no favourites.

“The Champions Trophy is more competitive than the World Cup and no team is favourite to win the title,” Malik told media persons here.

Lahore, June 26 : Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has attributed the team's World Twenty20 win to the special sessions conducted by a sports psychologist ahead of their visit to England.

Praising captain Younis Khan for his skills, Malik said the sessions that the team had with the psychologist, greatly helped the players to overcome their negative frame of mind and focus on the target only.

Lahore, Jan. 28 : Shoaib Malik's removal from the captaincy of the national squad has sparked fresh controversy in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), as the Board's Director General, Javed Miandad, has openly expressed his displeasure over his sudden sacking.

Miandad said that he would have personally liked to solve the problem in the team, and that Malik should have been given more time to sought out things.

Karachi, Jan 27 : Pakistan batsman Younis Khan has emerged as the front-runner to replace Shoaib Malik as skipper ahead of the two-Test series against Sri Lanka after they were thrashed badly by the Lankans in the just concluded ODI series.

Shoaib Malik's is in the line of fire after being retained as Pakistan captain in December 2008, for an `indefinite' period, after his team's performance hit rock bottom against Sri Lanka on home soil, The News reported.

A detailed report has been demanded by Pakistan cricket authorities from Captain Shoaib Malik and Coach Intikhab Alam regarding their team's loss against Sri Lanka in the recent one-day series.

The biggest one day defeat was faced by Pakistan as the team was beaten by Sri Lanka by 234 runs in the third day-night international at Lahore on Saturday. Sri Lanka had a 2-1 win in the three-match series.

The first match was however won by Pakistan by eight wickets in Karachi before losing the second by 129 runs, also in Karachi.

Lahore, Jan. 25 : Shocked after suffering his worst ever defeat in one day internationals, Pakistan cricket captain, Shoaib Malik has admitted that his team failed in all departments of the game during the series against Sri Lanka.

Malik said losing the home series was a big disappointment for him.

"It is not an encouraging result, of course, it is a disappointment as we flopped in batting and bowling and it was not that kind of the performance and result I was looking forward," he said at his post match press conference on Saturday.

Lahore, Jan. 24: Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik has denied making any comments on Shoaib Akhtar's commitment on the field during the first two matches of the Sri Lanka series.

Malik said that he was misinterpreted by the media, as he was talking about the commitment of the whole team and never pointed fingers to any individual, The News reported.

"I was talking about the 11 players who played the match and people did not understand me," Malik said.

Lahore, Jan 7 : Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik has said that he is ready to take the national team to the top of the cricket rankings after his tenure as skipper was renewed for an indefinite period.

The Pakistan Cricket Board last week opted to keep 26-year-old Malik on as captain for the foreseeable future, with PCB chairman Ijaz Butt saying there was "no reason to replace him" when his tenure expired on December 31.

The News quoted Malik as saying that the move had motivated him to take Pakistan to new heights.

Karachi, Dec. 30 : As Pakistan looks forward to wear white clothes on a cricket field after a year against Sri Lanka, Captain Shoaib Malik is set to get an extension of his job.

"There are strong indications that Malik's stint as captain would be extended for one more year," The News quoted a PCB official, as saying.

Former Pakistan captain and wicket keeper, Moin Khan has also backed Malik for the post, saying that Pakistan cannot afford to have anybody else at the helm of their team at this point of time.

Islamabad, Dec. 22: Pakistan cricket coach Intikhab Alam has backed Shoaib Malik as captain of the squad and suggested that he should continue as captain of the side.

Alam said that under the captaincy of Malik the team has shown enough improvement and Malik himself has matured enough.

"He should continue as the captain of the team and has improved tremendously as a captain over the years. With the experience he has gained over the years, he is now a much improved captain," The News quoted Alam, as saying.

He predicted with a bit of more experience Malik could prove as one of the best captains, Pakistan has ever produced.

Karachi, Dec. 22 : Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has said that his team is chalking out a special strategy to deal with Sri Lanka's sensational spinner Ajantha Mendis in the upcoming series.

Showing concerns about Sri Lanka's spin department, Malik said that Sri Lanka possess two quality spinners but for them the matter of concern was Mendis as Pakistan players have played Muralitharan earlier several times.

"Sri Lanka have two quality spinners in Muttiah Muralitharan and Mendis, but we have played Murali a number of times and now need to master Mendis, who has been doing very well," The News quoted Malik, as saying.

Malik singled out sensational Sri Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis as his team''s main challenge.