Aakash Chopra: “Fakhar Zaman was there at the start, then he wasn’t, and he played well when he came back”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former India batsman Aakash Chopra praised Pakistan power-hitting opener Fakhar Zaman for playing well when he was given a second chance in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Zaman was dropped after the opening game against the Netherlands since he had been struggling to score runs for quite some time.
After missing the next five matches, he returned to the playing XI at the expense of Imam-ul-Haq, who was also out of form.
Zaman made the most of his opportunity as he smashed 81 and 126 not out against Bangladesh and New Zealand respectively.
“Fakhar Zaman was there at the start, then he wasn’t, and he played well when he came back,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Geo Super.
Pakistan won their first two matches against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before falling to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite fighting back to defeat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they could not make it through to 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.
The first Test between Pakistan and Australia will get underway on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series:Â 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