Shadab Khan: “Fakhar Zaman is a big player”

Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani

Pakistan spinner Shadab Khan has shown his support for under pressure opening batsman Fakhar Zaman, saying he is a “big player” for the team.

Zaman has been very inconsistent as of late and was dropped after Pakistan’s opening game against the Netherlands in the ongoing 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.

After being replaced by Abdullah Shafique, the 33-year-old missed the next five matches before being recalled into the playing XI at the expense of fellow opener Imam-ul-Haq, who also failed to impress in the World Cup.

Zaman put on a show in his next two games as he smashed 81 and 126 not out against Bangladesh and New Zealand respectively.

For Shadab, this shows how useful the Mardan native is to the Pakistan team.

“Fakhar Zaman is a big player,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.

Pakistan started the World Cup with wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before falling to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.

Despite bouncing back with consecutive victories over Bangladesh and New Zealand, they could not make it to the semi-finals.

To add insult to injury, the men in green lost their final group stage game against England by 93 runs.

Pakistan will now face Australia in a three-match Test series, but Shadab and Zaman were not included in the 18-man squad announced for the tour.

The first Test between Pakistan and Australia will begin 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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