Haroon Rasheed: “Salman Agha’s exceptional performance is a testament to the success of this strategy”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Haroon Rasheed, the Pakistan chief selector, has applauded Salman Ali Agha for cementing his position as one of the national team’s go-to middle order batsman.
Rasheed noted that many “top-performing batsmen often struggle when shifted to the middle order”, but Salman succeeded where many have failed.
The 29-year-old from Lahore has featured in seven Test matches to date and scored 447 runs, which includes a century and three fifties, at an average of 34.38.
He has also played 11 ODIs and amassed 337 runs, which includes three half-centuries, at an average of 48.14.
“We cannot deny the fact that strengthening our middle order pairs is crucial,” Rasheed was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan. “Top-performing batsmen often struggle when shifted to the middle order, which is why we are considering switching three to four players in our batting lineup.
“Salman Agha’s exceptional performance is a testament to the success of this strategy.”
Salman has been picked for Pakistan’s upcoming tour of Sri Lanka, which will consist of two Test matches that will be played in Galle and Colombo from July 16 to 28.
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