Babar Azam: “Usman Khan has played different and good cricket”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan limited overs captain Babar Azam has praised promising batsman Usman Khan for playing “different and good cricket”.
Usman shot to prominence during 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.
Since then, the 29-year-old, who switched allegiance from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Pakistan, has featured in 10 T20Is and scored 117 runs at an average of 14.62 and a strike-rate of 128.57.
Despite not living up to the hype at the international level, Azam has still seen a lot of encouraging signs from the Karachi native.
“Usman Khan has played different and good cricket,” he was quoted as saying by PakPassion.
Usman was not selected for the ongoing two-Test series against Bangladesh, where Pakistan find themselves 1-0 down after losing the first Test by 10 wickets. Azam, who was named in the squad, made scores of 0 and 22 in that game.
He is now playing in the second Test in Rawalpindi and struck 31 runs in the first innings, which ended with Pakistan being bowled out for 274.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi
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