Shahid Afridi: “Saim needs to show more responsibility during matches and score game-changing runs in at least two out of every five innings. We have not seen this from Saim so far but he might get more chances”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan power-hitter Shahid Afridi wants opener Saim Ayub to “show more responsibility” by making “game-changing runs in at least two out of every five innings”.
Ayub has featured in 20 T20Is to date and mustered 284 runs at an average of 15.77 and a strike-rate of 130.87.
Even though the 21-year-old has yet to make his first fifty in international cricket, Afridi still thinks he will get more chances to prove himself.
He thus urged the Karachi native to make the most of those opportunities by registering a series of big scores.
“Saim needs to show more responsibility during matches and score game-changing runs in at least two out of every five innings. We have not seen this from Saim so far but he might get more chances,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
In Pakistan’s five-match T20I series against New Zealand, Ayub only managed to amass 57 runs at an average of 14.25 and a strike-rate of 129.54.
He then played in the three-match T20I series against Ireland and finished with 65 runs at an average of 21.66 and a strike-rate of 151.16.
Pakistan are now playing a four-match T20I series against England, which is tied at 0-0 after the first match was abandoned due to persistent rain.
Following this, the men in green will be involved in the 2024 T20 World Cup, which will take place in the West Indies and United States of America from June 1 to 29.
Pakistan’s first T20 World Cup game will be against the United States of America in Dallas on June 6.
Pakistan Squad for Ireland and England T20I Series: Babar Azam (capt), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan
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