Pakistan batsman Fakhar Zaman: “I don’t view it as a sacrifice. If the team management doesn’t see me fitting into the opening position, it suggests they believe I can contribute to winning matches batting lower in the order”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Big-hitting Pakistan batsman Fakhar Zaman is not upset about being overlooked as the team’s T20I opener and doesn’t think of it as a “sacrifice.”
Zaman regularly opens the batting in domestic cricket and T20 leagues around the world, but noted that if the Pakistan team management believes he can be a match-winner lower down the order, then that’s the role he will take on.
In the recent five-match T20I series against New Zealand, the 33-year-old batted at number four and scored 126 runs, which included a top score of 50, at an average of 25.20 and a strike-rate of 165.78.
“I don’t view it as a sacrifice. If the team management doesn’t see me fitting into the opening position, it suggests they believe I can contribute to winning matches batting lower in the order,” Zaman was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Zaman will now play for the Lahore Qalandars in the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL), which begins on February 17.
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