Imad Wasim: “We had been saying for a while that Fakhar Zaman is an impact player. Similarly, when Abrar will play, he will make an impact as well”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Imad Wasim, who recently retired from international cricket, has urged Pakistan to include mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed in the ODI team as he is an “impact player” like opening batsman Fakhar Zaman.
Abrar was a reserve player for the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, even though the three spinners selected for the tournament – Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz and Usama Mir – all failed to have much of an impact.
Shadab took two wickets in six matches at an average of 118.50 and an economy rate of 6.23, while Nawaz claimed two wickets in five games at an average of 111.50 and an economy rate of 5.89.
As for Mir, he picked up four wickets in four matches at an average of 62 and an economy rate of 7.08.
Since Pakistan’s main spinners have not been getting the job done, Imad has called on the selectors to give Abrar a chance as he has already proven what he can do in Test cricket.
On top of that, the 25-year-old from Karachi has taken 17 wickets in 12 List A games at an average of 25.70.
“We had been saying for a while that Fakhar Zaman is an impact player. Similarly, when Abrar will play, he will make an impact as well,” Imad was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan started the World Cup with consecutive victories over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before faltering against India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Even though they fought back to defeat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they failed to make it to the semi-finals.
The men in green ended their campaign on a sour note as England thumped them by 93 runs.
Abrar will now play in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia, which gets underway 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
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