Ian Bishop: “It’s the range of shots and the way he constructs his innings that is so eye-catching”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Ian Bishop, the former West Indies seamer, admitted that Pakistan top order batsman Saim Ayub is such an “eye-catching” player due to the “range of shots” he possesses and the way he “constructs his innings.”
Ayub popped onto the radar during the 2023 Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he amassed 341 runs in 12 matches for the Peshawar Zalmi, which included five half-centuries, at an average of 28.41 and a strike-rate of 165.53.
The 21-year-old from Karachi was quickly catapulted into the Pakistan team and played in their T20I series against New Zealand and Afghanistan.
Most recently, he represented the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and accumulated 478 runs in 13 matches, which included four fifties, at an average of 43.45 and a strike-rate of 142.26.
“It’s the range of shots and the way he constructs his innings that is so eye-catching,” Bishop, a well-known cricket commentator, said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Ayub was not part of Pakistan’s squad for their two-Test series against Sri Lanka or the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan, which they won 2-0 and 3-0 respectively.
He also wasn’t selected for the Asia Cup, where the men in green kicked off their campaign with a 238-run win over Nepal before sharing one point apiece with India as their match was ruined by rain.
Having booked their spot in the Super Fours, they went on to beat Bangladesh by seven wickets.
However, their positive momentum was halted when India thrashed them by 228 runs.
Pakistan still had an opportunity to get into the Asia Cup final, but they couldn’t do it as they lost to Sri Lanka by two wickets via the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) method.
The men in green will now feature in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup in India, which will begin on October 5.
Their opening game will be against the Netherlands on October 6 in Hyderabad.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Hasan Ali
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