David Lloyd: “He flips the game. You want them in your side, you want game-changers”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Renowned cricket commentator David Lloyd has acknowledged the importance of Pakistan middle order batsman Saud Shakeel, saying he is someone who “flips the game”.
Shakeel has brought much-needed stability to the middle order and has continuously scored runs when the men in green need him to step up.
Calling the 29-year-old Test vice-captain a game-changer, Lloyd pointed out that opposition teams will no doubt be wary of how dangerous he is.
“Yeah and dangerous as well, coming in where he does, when you just think that you’re on top of the game as the opposition and a player turns the game, he flips the game. You want them in your side, you want game-changers,” he told PakPassion.
“You don’t want passive players in your team who look nice, they’re ok, doing all right. But the opposition aren’t putting that name up on the whiteboard, they ain’t putting that up there, just be careful of this guy. So, you need game-changers and it’s proved to be exactly that.”
In the recent three-Test series against England, Shakeel was Pakistan’s highest run-scorer with 280 runs, which included a century and a fifty, at an average of 56.
He wasn’t picked for Pakistan’s limited overs tour of Australia, where they won the ODI series 2-1 but lost the T20I leg 3-0.
Instead, he has been in action for Karachi Region Whites in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and has made 168 runs in three matches, which includes a top score of 120, at an average of 28.
The Pakistan team’s next assignment will be a white-ball tour of Zimbabwe, where they will play three ODIs and three T20Is from November 24 to December 5.
Pakistan Squad for Zimbabwe ODI Series: Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Irfan Khan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tayyab Tahir
Pakistan Squad for Zimbabwe T20I Series: Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Irfan Khan, Omair bin Yousuf, Qasim Akram, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir, Usman Khan
[TS_Poll id=”72″]