Fakhar Zaman well and truly rose through the ranks in the last Champions Trophy played in 2017. With another approaching in roughly a month, can he find a place in the team this time? The answer is yes; if you ask Fakhar himself, at least. He believes his (enforced) sabbatical is nearing an end and he will be seen playing for Pakistan again soon.
“A 100%, I will play for Pakistan (again),” Fakhar said while speaking on a podcast. “Actually, many people do not know about that, but after the T20 World Cup I got sick and because of my medical condition I was not fit, so I was not a part of the team. But now I [have] recovered 100%, and you will see me in the next white-ball series which Pakistan play.”
Having not played any ODI games after the World Cup in 2023, and no International games post-T20 World Cup last year, this statement may seem a tad unanticipated–unless you follow Pakistan cricket and know the sort of labyrinth you are up against when it comes to the sport in the country. Besides being ‘sick’, Fakhar fell out of favor with the board after he tweeted in support of Babar Azam, following the latter’s ousting from the team.
However, the left-handed batter said he always only had his eyes on the eight-nation tournament, which is due to be hosted and defended by his team, Pakistan.
“My plan has been around the Champions Trophy. I did not play in the Australia tour or in the South Africa tour, so my whole plan was just to play in the Champions Trophy, to make myself available and to be fully fit for the tournament.” Fakhar said.
“That was in the back of my mind, and I am thankful, and I am lucky to be fit right now. I started from the Champions Trophy 2017 and that went really well for me and now I am very excited for the next edition also. I talked to the selectors, the head coach, and everyone wanted me to play in the Champions Trophy.”
Things seem to have settled down between the board and him since, and in all fairness, leaving out a player like Fakhar from a tournament as huge as the Champions Trophy would really be a fool’s gamble. Especially, now that Saim Ayub’s chances of featuring in the tournament are very slim. But the opening batter was quick to clear that he was not waiting for a spot to open up in the team in the way it did.
“I hope and I believe that he will recover quickly, and I was thinking yesterday to call Saim just to talk to him about this injury,” Fakhar said. “In Pakistan, we have three of the best players in the world in Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Saim Ayub, so sometimes I feel lucky to be in the team even if I am not able to make my place in the team as an opener.”
Fakhar, 34, has never batted below the opening positions in ODIs but he is ready to take the risk to do so in the event the need arises.
“If the team has faith in me and they want me to bat at number four or five, that totally makes sense, because for me the team is always first and I play wherever the team wants me to play, but I always prefer to open.”
The Southpaw averages 46.5 in the ODI format and has been one of Pakistan’s regulars for the past few years. His slump in form was what originally became the reason for his removal from the side and reasons kept on adding which prolonged his snub from the team longer than what was needed.
