Fakhar says scoring runs important with T20 World Cup ahead

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 06 Jan 2023

Opener Fakhar Zaman has hinted that changes in the Pakistan squad for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup are imminent.

He is hopeful to make a place in it after being left out when the roster was announced initially last month by chief selector Mohammad Wasim.

According to recent reports, the Pakistan Cricket Board is considering making changes to the squad before the October 10 submission deadline.

Fakhar was declared the man-of-the-match for scoring 49 off 32 balls for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa against Sindh in their National T20 Cup match on Thursday.

His contribution helped the defending champions dealt Sindh with their first defeat of the domestic T20 competition and the match by six wickets.

It was Fakhar’s first big score in the tournament, which is set to play a crucial role in deciding who travels with the Pakistan squad to the United Arab Emirates and Oman after two weeks for the T20 World Cup.

“It is very important to score runs at this stage, the World Cup is not far away,” Fakhar said after the match.

The Mardan-born southpaw was dismissed in the eighth over by leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood. He said he wanted to last longer at the crease.

“I was trying to score and I was successful as well but it would have been better if I finished the match,” Fakhar said.

He revealed that he played with an injury for most part of his innings after his thumb got “almost burst”. The opener said he has been advised a rest of four to five days by the doctor.

However, the injury resulted in an increased strike-rate for Fakhar after KPK skipper Mohammad Rizwan denied his request to get retired-hurt.

“I went for hitting only because playing slow was not really helping me,” revealed Fakhar. “I also asked Rizwan if I could go out but he said that we should avoid exposing a new batsman at least for the next six overs.”

Fakhar’s knock took him to 76 runs in three outings at the National T20 Cup.

With skipper Mohammad Rizwan losing his wicket early and Fakhar giving KPK a solid start, it was Sahibzada Farhan who boosted the team’s pursuit of the 151-run target set by Sindh adding a valuable 45 off 30 balls.

“Sahibzada Farhan is a very talented player. All players face bad patches, but he has worked hard,” said Fakhar about the right-hander. “I hope he continues to perform for KPK and also makes it to the Pakistan team in the future.”

Fakhar said the secret behind KPK’s success is the culture of the sport in the province and his teammates’ ability to not switch off during matches.

“Cricket in KPK is tough, players of that region work very hard,” said the 31-year-old. “In the KPK team we always come with an approach that we can’t relax for even one ball while batting or fielding.

“We’re also lucky because all our first-eleven players have the ability to perform at any point in the match.”