Mohammad Rizwan: “He will be back in the Pakistan team soon”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
White-ball captain Mohammad Rizwan has no doubt that big-hitting batsman Fakhar Zaman “will be back in the Pakistan team soon”.
His prediction comes after Zaman was not selected for the limited overs series against Australia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.
Rumours surfaced that the 34-year-old was dropped after criticising the decision to axe Babar Azam midway through Pakistan’s three-Test series against England in October 2024.
However, Rizwan noted that Zaman was suffering from an illness recently, while limited overs head coach Aaqib Javed pointed out that the Mardan native needed to work on his fitness.
Even though Zaman has been overlooked for the last few series, Rizwan remains confident he will return in the near future.
“He will be back in the Pakistan team soon,” he was quoted as saying by journalist Farid Khan on X, formerly known as Twitter.
During their tour of Australia, Pakistan won the ODI series 2-1 before being thumped 3-0 in the T20Is.
As for their trip to Zimbabwe, the men in green triumphed 2-1 in both the ODI and T20I series.
Pakistan are now in South Africa and lost the T20I series 2-0 before rebounding to claim a 3-0 victory in the ODIs.
The men in green and the Proteas are currently playing a two-Test series, which got underway on December 26 in Centurion.
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
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