Mickey Arthur: “Pakistan has some wonderful young players, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Haris Sohail, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf and of course Babar Azam”
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Former Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur has picked Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Haris Sohail, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan and Faheem Ashraf as the future of Pakistan cricket.
Azam is currently Pakistan’s T20 captain and is set to replace Sarfaraz Ahmed as ODI skipper as well.
He recently represented the Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and was the highest run-scorer with 345 runs in 10 games at an average of 49.28 and a strike-rate of 123.65.
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Zaman and Imam have done exceptionally well in ODI cricket thus far hold the record as being the fastest and second-fastest to score 1,000 runs in the 50-over format respectively.
Afridi may only be 20, but he has already established himself as the spearhead of Pakistan’s pace attack, while Shadab is coming off an exceptional campaign in the PSL, where he captained Islamabad United.
Shadab was the fifth-highest run-scorer in the tournament with 263 runs in nine matches at an average of 37.57 and a strike-rate of 159.39.
He also took eight wickets at an average of 29.37.
As for Haris, he has become a dependable middle-order batsman for Pakistan, while Faheem accumulated 50 runs in seven matches for Islamabad United in the PSL at an average of 16.66 and claimed seven wickets at an average of 31.42.
“The thing about Pakistan cricket is that the people are so emotionally attached to the game,” Arthur said in a YouTube video as quoted by Cricket Pakistan. “Either you are king or you are down there. There is no middle way. I loved and hated that facet of Pakistan cricket. But I think people need to be patient, you can’t get instant results. You need to give chances to new players to find their feet.
“Pakistan has some wonderful young players, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Haris Sohail, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf and of course Babar Azam. I think this is the core of players Misbah-ul-Haq should depend on to carry Pakistan cricket forward.”
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