Fakhar Zaman: “There’s a bright spark in him (Nafay), but there is a difference between domestic and international cricket. He is such a talent that if he plays PSL for 2-3 years, and we groom him for international cricket, he can serve Pakistan for a long time”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Big-hitter Fakhar Zaman firmly believes batsman Khawaja Nafay “can serve Pakistan for a long time” if he is groomed properly.
Zaman acknowledged that there is a “bright spark” in the 22-year-old, but made it abundantly clear that there is a big difference between domestic and international cricket.
Nafay recently featured in the Champions T20 Cup, where he scored 220 runs in 10 matches for the Markhors, which included two fifties, at an average of 24.44 and a strike-rate of 135.80.
Zaman confirmed that the youngster is on the right track, but needs to play in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) for two to three years before he is ready to make the jump to international cricket.
“There’s a bright spark in him (Nafay), but there is a difference between domestic and international cricket. He is such a talent that if he plays PSL for 2-3 years, and we groom him for international cricket, he can serve Pakistan for a long time,” he was quoted as saying by Grassroots Cricket on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Zaman also played for the Markhors in the Champions T20 Cup and accumulated 303 runs in 10 games, which included two half-centuries, at an average of 30.30 and a strike-rate of 132.31.
The 34-year-old was overlooked for Pakistan’s recent limited overs series against Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
During their tour of Australia, the men in green won the ODI series 2-1 before being whitewashed 3-0 in the T20Is.
They then travelled to Zimbabwe and triumphed 2-1 in both the ODI and T20I series.
Pakistan are now taking on South Africa and lost the T20I series 2-0 before bouncing back to claim a 3-0 victory in the ODIs.
As for the ongoing two-Test series, the Proteas hold a 1-0 lead after winning the 1st Test in Centurion by two wickets.
The 2nd Test got 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
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