Fakhar Zaman: “My only prayer is that he doesn’t face any fitness issues in the team that he will lead”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan opening batsman Fakhar Zaman is hoping that pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi “doesn’t face any fitness issues” going forward, especially now that he is the country’s T20I captain.
Afridi suffered back-to-back knee injuries in 2022, which kept him out of action for months.
Having made his international comeback in 2023, Zaman wants the 23-year-old to stay fit and achieve great success as captain.
“My only prayer is that he doesn’t face any fitness issues in the team that he will lead,” he told Cricket Pakistan.
Afridi recently played for Pakistan in their three-match Test series against Australia and picked up eight wickets in the first two Tests at an average of 41.62.
He is now captaining the men in green in their five-match T20I series against New Zealand and has taken three wickets in the first two games.
Pakistan are 2-0 down in the series and will look to avoid a series defeat in the third T20I, which will be held on January 17 in Dunedin.
Pakistan Squad for New Zealand T20I Series: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abbas Afridi, Azam Khan (wicketkeeper), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Usama Mir and Zaman Khan
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