Cricketer Asad Shafiq to continue education at Karachi University

Pakistani batter Asad Shafiq is enrolling at the University of Karachi in the department of Health Physical Education and Sports Sciences (HPESS) — not long after former cricketer Mohammad Hafeez announced that he planned to continue his education.

"Shafiq will be a student of BS Third Year in the evening shift," an official statement issued by KU on Tuesday said.

On Monday, the test cricketer met HPESS Chairman Professor Dr Basit Ansari and the KU Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Khalid Mahmood Iraqi at the VC Secretariat.

During this meeting, Shafiq told the chairman and VC that he had been compelled to drop his education after his graduation due to his commitments to national duty and sports.

Now, however, he said was the best time for him to pursue higher studies, adding that he hoped other cricketers would also resume their educations in the near future.

The KU VC, in response, said that Shafiq's admission was a good sign and that there was a trend developing in the department as more sportsmen were joining the department to pursue their dreams and obtain their degrees.

"Not only department students but others too will learn from his [Shafiq] extensive experience. I am sure that it will be a pleasant surprise to see him [Shafiq] in the classroom for his classmates," he said.

The VC also said that KU was working to promote extra-curricular activities on the campus, besides providing the best academic and research facilities.

He mentioned that the University of Karachi had offered a 100% scholarship for sportsmen and sportswomen who had represented the country in international competitions.

It must be noted that Shafiq has scored 12 test centuries so far throughout his career and has made nine centuries while batting at number six — a world record that makes him the most prolific ton scorer at the test level.

The batter’s achievement surpassed that of Sir Garfield Sobers, who had previously set the record by scoring eight centuries for the West Indies.

Other cricketers studying at KU include former captains Sarfaraz Ahmed and Mohammad Hafeez — who become a student in the same department last week — and Test cricketer Saud Shakeel.