Pakistan batsman Usman Khan: “There is no pressure on me as I played according to the plans given to me. I stay true to my game and perform according to [the] team’s requirements. I have no issue batting at any number”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan batsman Usman Khan has expressed his willingness to bat anywhere, but insisted that he will “stay true to my game”.
Usman earned a call-up to the T20I team following his outstanding campaign in the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he was the second-highest run-scorer with 430 runs in seven matches for the Multan Sultans, which included two centuries and two fifties, at an average of 107.50 and a strike-rate of 164.12.
The 29-year-old made his international debut in the five-match T20I series against New Zealand and mustered 59 runs at an average of 14.75 and a strike-rate of 122.91.
Usman batted at number three in that series, but if his number were to change going forward, he is confident that he would be able to adapt.
“There is no pressure on me as I played according to the plans given to me. I stay true to my game and perform according to [the] team’s requirements. I have no issue batting at any number,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Following the New Zealand series, the men in green beat Ireland 2-1 in a three-match T20I series.
They then played a four-match T20I series against England and Usman scored 38 runs in the one game he featured in.
Most recently, he was involved in the 2024 T20 World Cup and finished with 20 runs in four matches at an average of 6.66 and a strike-rate of 90.90.
Pakistan kicked off their campaign with back-to-back losses to the United States of America and India before bouncing back to defeat Canada and Ireland.
However, those two triumphs went in vain as the men in green were eliminated in the group stage of the tournament.
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