Shaheen Shah Afridi: “I think for us it’s a positive sign, Saim Ayub played a good innings, you need to give them time and we are planning for World Cup and that’s a start”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan T20I captain Shaheen Shah Afridi has urged people to give aggressive opening batsman Saim Ayub some time to stamp his authority.
Ayub is one of the brightest prospects in the country and despite being a dominant force on the domestic circuit, he has yet to replicate that at the international level.
The 21-year-old has represented Pakistan in 12 T20Is and scored 162 runs at an average of 14.72 and a strike-rate of 124.61.
Most recently, he featured in the five-match T20I series against New Zealand and failed to have much of an impact as he mustered 39 runs in four games at an average of 9.75 and a strike-rate of 130.
Despite his underwhelming performance, Afridi has vowed to keep backing the Karachi-born batsman.
“I think for us it’s a positive sign, Saim Ayub played a good innings, you need to give them time and we are planning for World Cup and that’s a start,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Ayub will now play for the Peshwar Zalmi in the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL), while Afridi will captain the Lahore Qalandars.
PSL 9 will be played from February 17 to March 18 in four cities – Lahore, Multan, Karachi and Rawalpindi.
Peshawar Zalmi Squad for PSL 9: Babar Azam (captain), Rovman Powell, Saim Ayub, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Mohammad Haris, Aamer Jamal, Khurram Shahzad (partially available), Arshad Iqbal, Haseebullah, Gus Atkinson (partially available), Asif Ali, Naveen-ul-Haq (reserved), Salman Irshad, Arif Yaqoob, Umair Afridi, Dan Mousley, Mohammad Zeeshan, Waqar Salamkheil, Mehran Mumtaz, Luke Wood, Sufyan Muqeem, Shamar Joseph
Lahore Qalandars Squad for PSL 9: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Haris Rauf, David Wiese, Sikandar Raza, Abdullah Shafique, Zaman Khan, Mirza Tahir Baig, Rashid Khan (reserved), Fakhar Zaman, Rassie van der Dussen, Sahibzada Farhan, Muhammad Imran Jnr., Ahsan Hafeez Bhatti, Dan Lawrence (partially available), Jahandad Khan, Syed Faridoun Mahmood, Shai Hope, Kamran Ghulam, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Tayyab Abbas
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