Sikandar Bakht: “I’ve been saying it for a while – Pakistan had only one true match-winner in ODIs… Fakhar Zaman, and he’s been dropped from the team”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan pacer Sikandar Bakht believes Fakhar Zaman is the “one true match-winner in ODIs” and expressed his disappointment at the fact that the big-hitting batsman has been dropped.
Zaman recently criticised the decision to remove Babar Azam from the Test team midway through the three-Test series against England.
It is believed that this led to him not being given a central contract for the 2024/25 season and getting axed from the national team for the limited overs series against Australia and Zimbabwe.
“I’ve been saying it for a while – Pakistan had only one true match-winner in ODIs… Fakhar Zaman, and he’s been dropped from the team,” Bakht was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
In their series against Australia, Pakistan won the ODI leg 2-1 but were subsequently whitewashed 3-0 in the T20Is.
They then embarked on a tour of Zimbabwe and won both the ODI and T20I series 2-1.
Next up for Pakistan will be a trip to South Africa, where they will play three T20Is, three ODIs and two Tests.
The T20I series will get underway on December 10, while the ODI and Test series will start on December 17 and December 26 respectively.
Pakistan Squad for South Africa T20I Series: Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Omair Bin Yousuf, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan (wicketkeeper)
Pakistan Squad for South Africa ODI Series: Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan (wicketkeeper)
Pakistan Squad for South Africa Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub and Salman Ali Agha