Mohammad Wasim: “The team needs a power-hitter and Sharjeel’s presence will provide the chance for a better combination”
Image courtesy of: Pakistan Super League
Pakistan chief selector Mohammad Wasim said opening batsman Sharjeel Khan is the power-hitter the national team have been looking for.
This comes after Sharjeel was included in Pakistan’s T20 squad for the tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The 31-year-old now faces the prospect of making his international comeback after last playing for Pakistan in January 2017.
In the National T20 Cup, Sharjeel scored 233 runs in 11 matches for Sindh, which included two half-centuries, at an average of 21.18 and a strike-rate of 122.63.
As for the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, he amassed 656 runs in eight games, which included two hundreds and four half-centuries, at an average of 43.73.
He followed that up with 179 runs in seven matches in the Pakistan Cup, which included a top score of 108, at an average of 25.57 and a strike-rate of 127.85.
Most recently, Sharjeel represented the Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). He was in superb form before the tournament was postponed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) as he was the third-highest run-scorer with 200 runs in five matches, which included a century and a fifty, at an average of 40 and a strike-rate of 170.94.
“Sharjeel Khan has been given a chance to come back to the side on the basis of good performances in domestic cricket along with an overall betterment in fitness,” Wasim was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
“The team needs a power-hitter and Sharjeel’s presence will provide the chance for a better combination. After the tours of South Africa and Zimbabwe, we will be in a position to give a final look to our eventual World Cup squad.”
Pakistan will play three ODIs and four T20 Internationals against South Africa before heading to Zimbabwe for two Tests and three T20 Internationals.
Pakistan will depart for South Africa on March 26 and the tour will commence on April 2 and conclude on April 16. The ODI series will be played first.
The men in green will then head to Zimbabwe on April 17, but the dates for the matches have yet to be confirmed.
However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) noted that the national team will travel back to Lahore from Bulawayo on May 12.
Pakistan’s T20 Squad: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Haider Ali, Danish Aziz, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Usman Qadir, Hasan Ali, Arshad Iqbal.