Ahmed Shehzad: “Now if Fakhar comes in with him in both the white-ball formats [that] will be [the] top order issue sorted for Pakistan in [the] Champions Trophy”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan batsman Ahmed Shehzad has selected Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman as his go-to openers for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
In fact, he noted that Ayub and Zaman should be opening the batting in both ODIs and T20Is.
Ayub is currently doing that as he is one of Pakistan’s first-choice openers, but Zaman has been in and out of the team lately and wasn’t selected for their recent limited overs series against Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Zaman attributed this to the fact that he was suffering from hyperthyroidism.
Despite missing Pakistan’s last few white-ball assignments, the 34-year-old has been active in domestic cricket and recently played for the Markhors in the Champions T20 Cup.
Zaman ended the tournament as the third-highest run-scorer with 303 runs in 10 games, which included two half-centuries, at an average of 30.30 and a strike-rate of 132.31.
“Now if Fakhar comes in with him in both the white-ball formats [that] will be [the] top order issue sorted for Pakistan in [the] Champions Trophy,” Shehzad said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
During their tour of Australia, Pakistan won the ODI series 2-1 before being pummelled 3-0 in the T20Is.
They then went to Zimbabwe and triumphed 2-1 in both the ODI and T20I series.
As for their ongoing tour of South Africa, the men in green lost the T20I series 2-0 before bouncing back to secure a 3-0 victory in the ODIs.
Pakistan and South Africa are now playing a two-Test series, which the Proteas lead 1-0 after winning the 1st Test in Centurion by two wickets.
Ayub made scores of 14 and 27 in the 1st Test.
The 2nd Test will get underway on January 3 in Cape Town.
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
Ahmed Shahzad is himself a failed batsman of Pakistan so his opinion is baseless.