Abdullah Shafique: “Saim [Ayub] scored two 50s in the last two Tests, if we’d dropped him after the first Test, I’ve had that happen to me; it’s not nice”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Abdullah Shafique has admitted that it would not be nice to drop fellow opening batsman Saim Ayub after he has shown signs of improvement.
Ayub made fifties in both Tests against Bangladesh in August 2024 and followed it up with a career-best 77 in the second Test against England.
Having proved he is capable of scoring runs at the highest level, Shafique urged Pakistan to stick with the 22-year-old.
Part of Shafique’s insistence to persist with Ayub stems from his own experience of being dropped from the national team.
“Saim [Ayub] scored two 50s in the last two Tests, if we’d dropped him after the first Test, I’ve had that happen to me; it’s not nice,” he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
Ayub made 135 runs in the Test series against Bangladesh at an average of 33.75.
He then featured in the Champions One-Day Cup, which was a domestic 50-over competition that took place in Faisalabad.
In five games for the Panthers, he amassed 225 runs, which included a top score of 156, at an average of 45.
As for the three-Test series against England, the Karachi native made 155 runs at an average of 25.83.
Pakistan triumphed 2-1, which earned them their first Test series victory on home soil since 2021.
Pakistan Squad for 2nd and 3rd Tests against England: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Mehran Mumtaz, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Zahid Mahmood.
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