Babar Azam: “To be honest he has improved a lot”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Babar Azam, the Pakistan captain, admitted that Saud Shakeel’s hard has been paying off as he can see the middle order batsman has become much better.
Shakeel has cemented his spot in the Test team with a string of outstanding performances and is now starting to be utilised in ODIs too.
Given the struggles Pakistan have had in the middle order in the past, it seems that the 28-year-old from Karachi is here to stay as long as he keeps on scoring runs.
“To be honest he has improved a lot,” Azam was quoted as saying by Cricwick.
Shakeel recently scored 295 runs in the two-Test series against Sri Lanka, which included a career-best knock of 208 not out, at an average of 147.50.
He then played one ODI against Afghanistan, in which he struck nine runs.
As for the Asia Cup, he was part of Pakistan’s squad, but didn’t feature in any of their matches.
Currently, Shakeel is involved in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup in India and started by scoring a career-best 68, which came off 52 balls and included nine boundaries and a six, in the team’s 81-run win over the Netherlands.
Pakistan’s next match will be against Sri Lanka on October 10 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