Mickey Arthur: “He (Zaman) changes games whenever he bats, the longer he bats the more dominant we become”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Recently removed team director Mickey Arthur acknowledged that the longer opener Fakhar Zaman bats, the more dominant Pakistan become.
Zaman recently played in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, but was dropped after the opening game against the Netherlands since he was struggling to score runs.
After missing five matches, the 33-year-old returned to the playing XI and showcased his firepower as he blasted 81 and 126 not out against Bangladesh and New Zealand respectively.
Arthur pointed out that those two games perfectly show how Zaman can be a game-changer.
“He (Zaman) changes games whenever he bats, the longer he bats the more dominant we become,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan kickstarted their World Cup campaign with consecutive wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before they lost four in a row to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite fighting back to take down Bangladesh and New Zealand, they failed to make it through to the semi-finals.
To add insult to injury, the men in green lost their last group stage game against England by 93 runs.
Pakistan’s next assignment will be a three-match Test series against Australia, but Zaman was not included in the 18-man squad named 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
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