Shane Watson: “You’ve got to keep the faith with someone like this guy”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson has urged Pakistan to “keep the faith” in opening batsman Fakhar Zaman even though his form has been very turbulent as of late.
Zaman was actually dropped after Pakistan’s opening game against the Netherlands in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup since he was struggling to score runs.
After missing the next five matches, the 33-year-old took Imam-ul-Haq’s spot in the playing XI and returned with a bang as he smashed 81 and 126 not out against Bangladesh and New Zealand respectively.
Considering how the Mardan native single-handedly ripped both teams apart, Watson believes it would be foolish for Pakistan to axe Zaman from the team.
“You’ve got to keep the faith with someone like this guy,” Watson was quoted as saying by respected journalist Saj Sadiq on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Pakistan won their first two matches against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite fighting back to defeat Bangladesh and New Zealand, it wasn’t enough to earn them a spot in the semi-finals.
The men in green concluded their campaign in disappointing fashion as England thumped them by 93 runs.
Pakistan will now face Australia in a three-match Test series, but Zaman was not included in the 18-man squad announced for the tour.
The first Test between Pakistan and Australia will start on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi