Salman Ali Agha: “Saim is someone who can play for the next ten years and become the player we all want him to be”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan T20I captain Salman Ali Agha has no doubt that opener Saim Ayub can play for the national team for the next 10 years.
Ayub is one of the brightest prospects in the country, but has come under criticism for not scoring runs consistently enough.
Salman acknowledged the 23-year-old still has room for growth and is confident the talented youngster can develop into the “player we all want him to be.”
“Saim is someone who can play for the next ten years and become the player we all want him to be,” he was quoted as saying by Geo Super.
Recently, Ayub scored 108 runs in three T20Is against South Africa, which included an unbeaten 71, at an average of 54 and a strike rate of 150.
He continued to haunt the Proteas in the ODI series, accumulating 169 runs in three games, which included two fifties, at an average of 56.33.
Following this, the Karachi-born batsman took part in Pakistan’s three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka and made 39 runs in two games at an average of 19.50.
As for the T20I tri-series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, he ended up amassing 118 runs at an average of 23.60 and a strike-rate of 114.56.
Ayub had recently been taking part in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), where he made 68 runs in four games for the Sylhet Titans at an average of 17 and a strike-rate of 117.24.
Ayub is now back on international duty as he is playing in Pakistan’s three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka.
He began by scoring 24 runs, while Salman made 16 runs as Pakistan cruised to a six-wicket win.
Pakistan Squad for Sri Lanka T20I Series: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmad, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Nafay (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Salman Mirza, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wicketkeeper), Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wicketkeeper), Usman Tariq