You remember all about the early days of Saim Ayub the international cricketer. That T20I series against Afghanistan in Sharjah in March 2023. Ayub’s stellar PSL (341 runs at a strike rate of 167) had helped him earn that spot.

He would open in the format, you felt. One of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan had to drop down the order. They needed quick runs at the top. It was a logical, perhaps long-awaited choice, but the runs never came. After two failures, the 40-ball 49 in his third game was not a special innings. When New Zealand arrived that summer, Pakistan backed Babar and Rizwan at the top. Ayub smashed a 28-ball 47 from two-drop.

In 2024, Pakistan pushed Ayub back to the top yet again. He opened with Rizwan, then Babar, then again with Rizwan. But nothing came of any of that. There were starts, but not an innings impactful enough to earn him a permanent spot. At the T20 World Cup, Pakistan began with Babar and Rizwan at the top. It did not work. They tried Ayub again. It did not work.

Of course, you never doubted his talent or his ability to conjure breathtaking strokes. Ten minutes of watching him bat would convince you of that. That was probably why, despite an unremarkable first-class career, they gave him a Test cap at Sydney earlier this year. Thrown to the lions at their den, Ayub fell for a duck in the first innings but top-scored in the second, with 33 in a total of 115.

He had been playing T20Is and Tests for Pakistan. There was the odd Test fifty, but his record in the format stood at 26.91 across six matches. A year and a half into his international career, there was no innings that marked him out as a special batter at the highest level.

Then he crossed the Equator.

Saim Saim but different

As with the other formats, he failed on ODI debut. There were two rapid innings (82 in 71, 42 in 52) in the other games. It is always good to get runs against Australia in Australia, you felt, more so because no home batter got a fifty in the entire series. But you also knew that they were chasing 164 and 141. Pakistan won a historic series, but you knew Ayub was a support act in matches set up by their fast bowlers.

You saw him get runs in Bulawayo. Even an ODI hundred at a rate you had not seen since Shahid Afridi. It was only Zimbabwe, you felt. That one defining innings, let alone a full series, had still not arrived, you knew deep down.

A glimpse of what was to follow came in the first T20I. Chasing 184, Pakistan lost Babar for a duck, but Ayub strode out and hit seven fours in 15 balls. He made only 31 and Pakistan eventually lost, but you could sense that more was to follow.

The big innings came in the second T20I, when Pakistan demoted Babar to three to make way for Ayub. Finally, twenty-one months after that first outing against Afghanistan, Ayub showed what the fuss had been about. The 57-ball unbeaten 98 was not enough – yet again – but he had only started.

South Africa made 239-9 in the first ODI. In response, Pakistan slipped from 46-1 to 60-4, but Ayub stood firm. By the time he fell for 109, Pakistan needed only 39. After 25 in the second match, Ayub was at it again in the third, blazing away to a 94-ball 101 to take Pakistan to 308-9 in 47 overs.

In November, Pakistan won an ODI series in Australia after 22 years. In December, they became the first team in history to beat South Africa 3-0 in an ODI series in South Africa. In 2024, they have won seven ODIs and lost two. Their win-loss ratio this year (3.5) is next to only Sri Lanka’s 4 (12 wins, 3 defeats).

Months after a defeat to the USA and a first-round exit at the T20 World Cup, followed by a 0-2 defeat against Bangladesh in the home Test series, Pakistan have now won two historic series. Ayub top-scored for Pakistan in both to zoom through the ICC rankings. After nine ODIs, his career stands at 515 runs at 64.37 with a strike rate of 106.

Just Pakistan things

A coincidence, perhaps, you may wonder. The sample size, after all, is too small. But then, to thrust newcomers on to the big stage and still find success is a very Pakistan thing to do.

Rewind to the 1992 World Cup, the greatest moment in their cricketing history. They fielded two debutants in their opening game, Wasim Haider and Iqbal Sikander, against the West Indies. Neither man played any cricket outside that World Cup.

But perhaps even that pales in comparison when pitted against the 2017 Champions Trophy, their other great ODI achievement. Shadab Khan came into that tournament with three caps and six weeks in ODI cricket. Once the tournament began, they gave out caps to Fakhar Zaman, Faheem Ashraf, and in the semi-final, Rumman Raees.

That is two global tournaments won with five uncapped cricketers and one with three caps. Ayub is almost a veteran compared to them. There is no logic to this, but trust Pakistan to find glory amidst chaos.

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