Aaqib Javed: “The good thing is that our options are improving. Players like Yasir [Khan] [Mohammad] Naeem, and [Khawaja] Nafay give us better choices, and it is a good sign”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan Director of High-Performance Aaqib Javed said the team’s options are improving given the emergence of talented players like the batting trio of Yasir Khan, Mohammad Naeem and Khawaja Nafay.
Yasir and Nafay recently played for the Pakistan Shaheens in the Top End T20 Series, which also included the Adelaide Strikers Academy, Australian Capital Territory, Bangladesh A, Chicago Kingsmen, Hobart Hurricanes Academy, Melbourne Renegades Academy, Melbourne Stars Academy, Nepal, Northern Territory Strike, and Perth Scorchers Academy.
Yasir, 23, scored 172 runs in seven matches, which included two fifties, at an average of 24.57 and a strike-rate of 123.74.
As for Nafay, who is also 23 years old, he amassed 89 runs in five games, which included a top score of 61, at an average of 17.80 and a strike-rate of 127.14.
Naeem, meanwhile, didn’t take part in the Top End T20 Series.
However, the 26-year-old was one of the standout performers in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he accumulated 314 runs in 12 matches for the Lahore Qalandars, which included three fifties, at an average of 26.16 and a strike-rate of 162.69.
“The good thing is that our options are improving. Players like Yasir [Khan] [Mohammad] Naeem, and [Khawaja] Nafay give us better choices, and it is a good sign,” Aaqib was quoted as saying by A Sports.
Despite showing encouraging signs with the bat, Yasir, Nafay and Naeem weren’t picked for Pakistan’s T20I series against Bangladesh in Lahore, the T20I tour of Bangladesh, the limited overs tour of the West Indies, and the T20I tri-series against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan.
They also failed to make the cut for the 2025 Asia Cup, where the men in green reached the final and lost to India by five wickets.
Pakistan will now host South Africa for two Tests, three T20Is, and three ODIs, with the series being held between October 12 and November 8.
Pakistan squad for South Africa Test series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Asif Afridi, Babar Azam, Faisal Akram, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Noman Ali, Rohail Nazir (wicketkeeper), Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi