Sohaib Maqsood: “Now I wish to see Saim and Fakhar as our T20 openers in [the] T20 World Cup, will this ever happen?”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan batsman Sohaib Maqsood has locked in his openers for the 2026 T20 World Cup, saying it should be Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman.
Ayub is already a first-choice opening batsman, while Zaman returned to the limited overs squads recently.
With both of them part of the T20I team right now, Maqsood wants them opening the batting in the lead-up to and during the T20 World Cup.
“Now I wish to see Saim and Fakhar as our T20 openers in [the] T20 World Cup, will this ever happen?” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
During the recent T20I series against South Africa, Ayub scored 108 runs, which included a top score of 71 not out, at an average of 54 and a strike-rate of 150.
Zaman did not feature in that series, but returned for Pakistan’s T20I tri-series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, where he amassed 75 runs in five matches at an average of 25 and a strike-rate of 150.
Ayub, meanwhile, finished with 118 runs in five games at an average of 23.60 and a strike-rate of 114.56.
Both players are now involved in T20 leagues, with Ayub representing the Sylhet Titans in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and Zaman in action for the Desert Vipers in the International League T20 (ILT20).
They will be back in Pakistan colours very soon as the men in green will tour Sri Lanka for three T20Is from January 7 to 11.
Pakistan Squad for Sri Lanka T20I Series: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmad, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Nafay (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wicketkeeper), Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wicketkeeper), Usman Tariq