Faisal Iqbal: “He has the capabilities [to] be a great white-ball middle order batter in both white-ball formats”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan cricketer Faisal Iqbal believes middle order batsman Saud Shakeel should be picked in both ODIs and T20Is as he can add tremendous value.
Shakeel mostly plays Test cricket and serves as the team’s vice-captain, but has seen more opportunities in ODI cricket as well.
However, Faisal wants the 29-year-old from Karachi to get a proper run in the team in both white-ball formats so that he can show what he can do.
“He has the capabilities [to] be a great white-ball middle order batter in both white-ball formats!” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Shakeel recently captained the Quetta Gladiators in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and accumulated 237 runs in 12 matches, which included a top score of 59, at an average of 26.33 and a strike-rate of 117.32.
Despite his solid campaign in PSL 10, he was not picked in Pakistan’s team for their three-match T20I series against Bangladesh, which the men in green won 3-0.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh T20I Series: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Abbas Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wicketkeeper) and Saim Ayub