Haider Azhar: “A surprise his team let go of him”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Multan Sultans general manager Haider Azhar admitted it was surprising the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise let Khushdil Shah go ahead of the player draft for PSL 10.
Khushdil, who ended up being drafted by the Karachi Kings, is one of the prominent big-hitters in Pakistan and has also become a handy bowler who can take wickets.
In the Champions T20 Cup, he scored 132 runs in eight matches for the Lions, which included a top score of 57 not out, at an average of 26.40 and a strike-rate of 151.72.
The 29-year-old also claimed nine wickets at an average of 17.22 and an economy rate of 6.45.
Most recently, he has been playing in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and amassed 274 runs in eight matches for the Rangpur Riders, which includes two fifties, at an average of 91.33 and a strike-rate of 197.12.
Bowling-wise, the Bannu native has picked up 11 wickets at an average of 10.81 and an economy rate of 5.95.
Considering how useful Khushdil can be with both the bat and ball, Azhar reiterated that he doesn’t know why the Sultans didn’t retain him for PSL 10.
“A surprise his team let go of him,” he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
The Pakistan team recently travelled to Australia for a white-ball series and came away with mixed results as they won the ODI series 2-1 before being thumped 3-0 in the T20Is.
Afterwards, they went to Zimbabwe and triumphed 2-1 in both the ODI and T20I series.
As for their tour of South Africa, Pakistan lost the T20I series 2-0 before rebounding to whitewash the Proteas 3-0 in the ODIs.
In the two-Test series that followed, the men in green were beaten 2-0.
Pakistan are now taking on the West Indies in a two-Test series and lead 1-0 after winning the 1st Test in Multan by 127 runs.
The 2nd Test will get underway on January 25 in Multan.
Pakistan Squad for West Indies Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Kashif Ali, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Noman Ali, Rohail Nazir (wicketkeeper), Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha
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