Shoaib Malik: “If he continues to perform well in domestic cricket, I can assure you that he will continue serving the Pakistan team as a proper batsman for eight to 10 years”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Shoaib Malik believes rising star Saim Ayub will stay in the Pakistan team for eight to 10 years if he works on his game in domestic cricket and improves his batting.
Ayub showed great potential in the 2023 Pakistan Super League (PSL), in which he played for the Peshawar Zalmi.
The 21-year-old, who was born in Karachi, amassed 341 runs in 12 matches, which included five half-centuries, at an average of 28.41 and a strike-rate of 165.53.
Given how young he is and the promise he has shown, Malik wants Ayub to keep developing so that he is able to serve Pakistan cricket for a long time.
“If he continues to perform well in domestic cricket, I can assure you that he will continue serving the Pakistan team as a proper batsman for eight to 10 years,” he told Cricket Pakistan. “He just needs a couple of years’ experience in order to get experience to play in different conditions.”
Following PSL 8, Ayub represented Pakistan in eight T20Is against Afghanistan and New Zealand. In those matches, he scored 123 runs at an average of 17.57 and a strike-rate of 123.