Saud Shakeel: “Having Sarfaraz Ahmed in the team as a player and mentor is a massive boost for us. His insights and leadership on and off the field will help young players to develop their game”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan middle order batsman Saud Shakeel said it is a “massive boost” to have Sarfaraz Ahmed in the Dolphins team for the ongoing Champions One-Day Cup.
The 50-over competition is going on in Faisalabad and Sarfaraz holds the role of a player-mentor, while Shakeel is captaining the Dolphins.
Despite the 37-year-old only having made five runs in the one match he has played, Shakeel admitted that Sarfaraz contributes in many other ways as he provides exceptional insights and has strong leadership skills as he used to captain Pakistan in all three formats in the past.
“Having Sarfaraz Ahmed in the team as a player and mentor is a massive boost for us. His insights and leadership on and off the field will help young players to develop their game,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
In the Champions One-Day Cup, Shakeel has scored 100 runs in four matches at an average of 25.
Prior to this, the 29-year-old featured in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Bangladesh and made 159 runs, which included a top score of 141, at an average of 39.75.
Pakistan’s next assignment will be a three-Test series against England, which will be played from October 7 to 28 in Multan and Rawalpindi.
Pakistan Squad for 1st Test against England:Â Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Mir Hamza, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi.
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