Fakhar Zaman: “I pray that he continues to work hard as he is a very good guy and I hope that he will go on and make records for Pakistan”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan power-hitter Fakhar Zaman believes fellow opener Abdullah Shafique could be a record-breaker in the making.
His praise for the 24-year-old comes after Shafique was one of Pakistan’s standout performers in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
The Sialkot native took Zaman’s spot in the playing XI after the opening game against the Netherlands and went on to score 336 runs in eight matches, which included a century and three fifties, at an average of 42.
Having shown what he is capable of doing on the biggest stage, Zaman hopes to see Shafique rewrite the history books in the future.
“I pray that he continues to work hard as he is a very good guy and I hope that he will go on and make records for Pakistan,” he 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 ending their four-game skid with back-to-back victories over Bangladesh and New Zealand, they failed to progress to the semi-finals.
The men in green concluded their campaign in dismal fashion as England crushed them by 93 runs.
Shafique will now play for Pakistan in their upcoming 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