Pakistan batsman Abdullah Shafique: “Sometimes such unwanted records can make you a better player as well. I will try to take this positively and put up a better show next time”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Abdullah Shafique, the Pakistan top order batsman, has vowed to do better after setting the record for the most ducks in a row in T20Is.
Having scored four consecutive ducks in the shortest format, he noted that every player goes through “ups and downs”, but insisted that “such unwanted records can make you a better player”.
Two of those ducks came during the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan in Sharjah before he scored 23 runs in the third match.
“[The] Afghanistan series wasn’t good for me, but ups and downs are part of a player’s career. We always try to make full use of the opportunities we get as a player. Sometimes such unwanted records can make you a better player as well. I will try to take this positively and put up a better show next time,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
The 23-year-old from Sialkot will now represent Pakistan in their two-Test series against Sri Lanka, which will be held in Galle and Colombo from July 16 to 28.
Shafique has excelled in Test cricket thus far, amassing 992 runs in 12 matches, which includes three centuries and four fifties, at an average of 47.23.
Pakistan Squad for Sri Lanka Test Series:Â Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (vc & wk), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Muhammad Huraira, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood