Mohammad Amir: “I was the first to say Fakhar is being forcefully pushed into the middle order. You can see where Fakhar’s performance has gone over the past two years. When you make these kinds of shifts, problems arise”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan left-arm seamer Mohammad Amir believes Fakhar Zaman “is being forcefully pushed into the middle order” when he is a natural opener.
Zaman was once Pakistan’s go-to opening batsman, but he has been shuffled around the batting line-up lately.
Amir blamed this for Zaman’s inconsistent performances over the past couple of years, saying issues start popping up when unnecessary changes are made.
“I was the first to say Fakhar is being forcefully pushed into the middle order. You can see where Fakhar’s performance has gone over the past two years. When you make these kinds of shifts, problems arise,” the 34-year-old told Geo News.
Zaman recently took part in the 2026 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and was a dominant force as he was the third-highest run-scorer with 401 runs in eight games for the Lahore Qalandars, which included a century and four fifties, at an average of 57.28 and a strike-rate of 151.89.
Pakistan then played two Tests against Bangladesh and three ODIs against Australia, but Zaman did not feature in any of those matches.
The men in green will be back in action soon as they are scheduled to tour the West Indies for two Tests in Trinidad and Tobago from July 25 to August 6.
After that, they will head to England to play three Tests between August 19 and September 13.
Pakistan Squad for West Indies Test Series: Babar Azam (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Fazal, Ali Usman, Azan Awais, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Awais Zafar, Ghazi Ghori (wicketkeeper), Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Shan Masood and Ubaid Shah
Pakistan Squad for England Test series: Babar Azam (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Fazal, Ali Usman, Azan Awais, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Awais Zafar, Ghazi Ghori (wicketkeeper), Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel (subject to fitness), Shan Masood and Ubaid Shah