Shahid Afridi: “The players from this team be it Azam Khan, or Saim Ayub, they should be told to play domestic cricket for two straight years and maintain their fitness”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi wants to see wicketkeeper-batsman Azam Khan and opener Saim Ayub “play domestic cricket for two straight years”.
He noted that in addition to it being good for their development, it will also be the ideal way to see if they can “maintain their fitness”.
Afridi added that the national selectors should be picking players based on their performances in domestic cricket over a lengthy period of time.
“The players from this team be it Azam Khan, or Saim Ayub, they should be told to play domestic cricket for two straight years and maintain their fitness. The selection committee should ensure that if you want to play for Pakistan, then you have to do such and such thing,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
The Pakistan team were recently in action in the 2024 T20 World Cup and began with successive losses to the United States of America and India before bouncing back to beat Canada and Ireland.
Despite concluding the group stage with a 2-2 record, the men in green were unable to make it through to the Super Eights.
Pakistan Squad for 2024 T20 World Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan (wk), Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed