Younis Khan: “Fakhar Zaman should definitely be in the team”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary Pakistan batsman Younis Khan said big-hitter Fakhar Zaman “should definitely be in the team” for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Zaman has missed Pakistan’s last few limited overs assignments against Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
The 34-year-old was also not given a central contract for the 2024/25 season.
Many people attributed this to his criticism of the decision to drop Babar Azam midway through Pakistan’s three-Test series against England in October 2024.
However, limited overs head coach Aaqib Javed made it cleat that Zaman can earn a recall if he improves his fitness.
Zaman himself revealed that was suffering from hyperthyroidism.
Despite this, he still featured in the Champions T20 Cup, where he finished as the third-highest run-scorer with 303 runs in 10 matches for the Markhors, which included two fifties, at an average of 30.30 and a strike-rate of 132.31.
Even though the Mardan native has been overlooked for the last few series, Younis stressed that Pakistan cannot leave him out for the Champions Trophy as he is too useful of an asset.
“Fakhar Zaman should definitely be in the team,” he was quoted as saying by Geo Super.
During their tour of Australia, Pakistan won the ODI series 2-1 before getting crushed 3-0 in the T20Is.
They then went to Zimbabwe and triumphed 2-1 in both the ODI and T20I series.
The men in green subsequently travelled to South Africa and began by losing the T20I series before bouncing back to claim a 3-0 victory in the ODIs.
A two-Test series followed and Pakistan were whitewashed 2-0.
Pakistan’s next assignment will be a two-Test series against the West Indies, which will take place in Karachi and Multan from January 16 to 28.
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