Waqar Younis: “I think he scored 70 odd runs in domestic (National T20 Cup) and we included him in the team on [the] basis of that performance and reduced a bowler”
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Iconic Pakistan seamer Waqar Younis said the national team cut their bowling options in order to pick top order batsman Fakhar Zaman in the T20 World Cup squad.
Zaman was initially picked as a reserve player, but was added to the main squad when the selectors decided to shake things up.
As a result, Pakistan “reduced a bowler”, Waqar said.
The former bowling coach was also unimpressed with Zaman’s performance in the recent National T20 Cup, where he scored 88 runs in four matches for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at an average of 22 and a strike-rate of 117.33.
“I think he scored 70 odd runs in domestic (National T20 Cup) and we included him in the team on [the] basis of that performance and reduced a bowler,” Waqar told A Sports as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Zaman didn’t bat in Pakistan’s T20 World Cup win over India, which the men in green won by 10 wickets on Sunday. Pakistan’s victory marked their first-ever World Cup win over their arch-rivals.
He scored 11 runs in Pakistan’s five-wicket win over New Zealand on Tuesday.
Pakistan will be looking to make it three wins out of three when they take on Afghanistan on Friday.
Pakistan T20 World Cup Squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan (vc), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shoaib Malik
Pakistan T20 World Cup Reserves: Khushdil Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir
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