Mohammad Hafeez: “Just wait and watch Saim Ayub in two years. He is an exceptional batting talent for Pakistan”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan team director and interim head coach Mohammad Hafeez has really high hopes for explosive opening batsman Saim Ayub, saying people should wait and see how far the 21-year-old will go in two years.
Hafeez described Ayub as “an exceptional batting talent” because of his vast array of powerful shots and ability to get off to quick starts.
The talented youngster was a dominant force in the latest domestic season as he scored 553 runs in four games for the Karachi Region Whites in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (QeA Trophy), which included three centuries, at an average of 79.
He maintained his red-hot form by being the highest run-scorer in the Pakistan Cup with 397 runs in eight games, which included a century and a fifty, at an average of 49.62.
Ayub’s performances earned him a call-up to the Pakistan Test team for the three-match series against Australia and he went on to make his debut in the third Test in Sydney, where he posted scores of 0 and 33.
Following that, he featured in the five-match T20I series against New Zealand and mustered 39 runs in four games at an average of 9.75 and a strike-rate of 130.
Most recently, Ayub played for the Peshawar Zalmi in the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and accumulated 345 runs in 11 matches, which included two half-centuries, at an average of 31.36 and a strike-rate of 157.53.
Having seen what kind of damage the Karachi-born batsman can inflict, Hafeez is backing him to make it big in the next two years.
“Just wait and watch Saim Ayub in two years. He is an exceptional batting talent for Pakistan,” he was quoted as saying by journalist Arfa Feroz Zake on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Peshawar Zalmi Squad for PSL 9: Babar Azam (captain), Rovman Powell, Saim Ayub, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Asif Ali, Mohammad Haris, Aamer Jamal, Naveen-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Salman Irshad, Arif Yaqoob, Umair Afridi, Dan Mousley, Haseebullah Khan, Mohammad Zeeshan, Mehran Mumtaz, Luke Wood, Sufiyan Muqeem, Waqar Salamkheil, Arshad Iqbal, Gus Atkinson, Shamar Joseph
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