Players from Pakistan are currently in action around the world in three different competitions: LPL 2023, the Hundred, and the One-Day Cup. Here’s a roundup of how they have been doing across these tournaments.
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Pakistan’s next international assignment is a three-match ODI series against Afghanistan right before the 2023 Asia Cup, starting August 22. With around a week to go for the series to start, several Pakistan players are plying their trade across formats in competitions around the globe. Here’s a look at how each player has been performing.
Babar Azam (Colombo Strikers – Lanka Premier League)
255 runs @ 36.42, SR: 137.83, 1 fifty, 1 hundred
Babar has been amongst the runs in the Lanka Premier League. In fact, he is the highest run-scorer in the tournament at the time of writing and is the only batter to have scored a century in the tournament so far.
Fakhar Zaman (B-Love Kandy – Lanka Premier League)
148 runs @ 29.60, SR: 112.97, 0 fifties
Zaman is ninth on the list of highest run-scorers in LPL 2023. He has given consistent starts to Kandy but his runs have come at a relatively slow rate of 112.9. His highest score so far has been 45 off 35 against the Galle Titans.
Shoaib Malik (Jaffna Kings – Lanka Premier League)
129 runs @ 129, SR: 140.21, 2 fifties
4 wickets @ 21.75, ER: 7.56, BBI: 2-13
Malik has been on fire in the Lanka Premier League for the Jaffna Kings. His first two matches saw him score two unbeaten half-centuries at No.5: a 53-ball 74 and a 37-ball 55. He has been handy with the ball as well, picking regular wickets.
Mohammad Haris (B-Love Kandy – Lanka Premier League)
99 runs @ 33, SR: 143.47, 1 fifty
Haris has played three games so far in LPL 2023. Two of those have resulted in failures with the bat, while one saw him score 81 off 51 against Jaffna Kings.
Mohammad Nawaz (Colombo Strikers – Lanka Premier League)
95 runs @ 23.75, SR: 120.25, 0 fifties
1 wicket @ 168, ER: 8.40, BBI: 1-18
The left-arm spinner has been having a tough time with the ball in the LPL, having picked just one wicket from seven innings. He has, however, contributed with the bat, including a match-sealing cameo of 14 from four balls in the match where Babar scored a hundred.
Asif Ali (B-Love Kandy – Lanka Premier League)
60 runs @ 20, SR: 150, 0 fifties
Asif Ali has not scored a lot of runs but has played a couple of impactful cameos in LPL 2023 so far, including an eight-ball 16 and a 15-ball 33. As he does for Pakistan, Asif has been playing the role of a finisher for Kandy, batting mostly at No.6/7.
Iftikhar Ahmed (Colombo Strikers – Lanka Premier League)
20 runs @ 6.66, SR: 64.51, 0 fifties
1 wicket @ 25, ER: 6.25, BBI: 1-7
Iftikhar has had a torrid time in LPL 2023 so far, having scored only 20 runs from three games. He has, however, managed to chip in with the ball, bowling an over or two in every game and picking a wicket, while not giving away a lot of runs.
Hasan Ali (Dambulla Aura – Lanka Premier League)
20 runs @ 20, SR: 133.33, 0 fifties
7 wickets @ 14.42, ER: 6.31, BBI: 3-16
Hasan Ali is the joint fourth-highest wicket-taker in LPL 2023 so far. Not only has he picked seven wickets from four games, he has also been economical, going at under 6.5 runs per over.
Sarfaraz Ahmed (B-Love Kandy – Lanka Premier League)
16 runs @ inf, SR: 76.19, 0 fifties
The former Pakistan captain has played only one game so far in LPL 2023 where he scored 16 off 21 while coming in to bat at No. 7 against Colombo Strikers.
Naseem Shah (Colombo Strikers – Lanka Premier League)
10 wickets @ 19.40, ER: 7.32, BBI: 2-19
Naseem Shah is the joint second-highest wicket-taker in the Lanka Premier League this year so far. He has shown immense consistency, not going wicketless for seven straight games, while at the same time conceding runs at less than seven and half runs per over.
Mohammad Hasnain (B-Love Kandy – Lanka Premier League)
4 wickets @ 27.75, ER: 7.92, BBI: 2-27
Hasnain has picked four wickets from four games, including a 2-27 against Colombo Strikers, which have been his best figures so far. He has mostly bowled through the middle overs, with only three of his 14 overs coming in the powerplay and only two at the death so far.
Shahnawaz Dahani (Dambulla Aura – Lanka Premier League)
3 wickets @ 39.66, ER: 10.34, BBI: 2-37
Dahani has not been at his best in the Lanka Premier League so far. He has picked three wickets from three games but has gone at more than 10 runs per over and is currently out of the playing XI.
Usama Mir (Manchester Originals – The Hundred)
40 runs @ 20, SR: 181.81, 0 fifties
6 wickets @ 15.66, ER: 9.40, BBI: 4-19
Usama Mir has contributed exceptionally at least once with both bat and ball in the men’s Hundred competition. With the bat, he scored a 14-ball 32 against Birmingham Phoenix, while with the ball, he took 4-19 against the Northern Superchargers.
Imad Wasim (Trent Rockets – The Hundred)
27 runs @ 27, SR: 103.84, 0 fifties
2 wickets @ 13.50, ER: 4.62
Wasim has not been able to play any impactful cameos so far for the Trent Rockets but has bowled well. In his first outing with the ball, he picked 2-15 from three sets of five balls, while in his second, he gave just 12 runs from his full quota of 20 balls. Trent Rockets are second favourites to win The Hundred at 9/2 with Betway.
Shadab Khan (Birmingham Phoenix – The Hundred)
6 runs @ 2, SR: 46.15, 0 fifties
1 wicket @ 55, ER: 9.42, BBI: 1-16
Shadab Khan, the Pakistan all-rounder, has been poor with both bat and ball so far in the Hundred. Three innings with the bat have fetched him six runs while two outings with the ball have given him just one wicket at an average of 55.
Shaheen Afridi (Welsh Fire – The Hundred)
6 wickets @ 16.33, ER: 7.35, BBI: 2-22
Afridi has been doing what he knows best, taking wickets with the new ball. So far he has six wickets from five games and has gone wicketless only once. Four of those six wickets have come in the first fifteen balls of the innings.
Haris Rauf (Welsh Fire – The Hundred)
5 wickets @ 20.80, ER: 7.80, BBI: 3-27
Rauf, Shaheen’s partner, both for Pakistan and for Welsh Fire in the Hundred, has had a decent campaign so far, picking five wickets from five games. However, his five wickets have come from two matches while he has gone wicketless in the other three.
Haider Ali (Derbyshire – One-Day Cup)
198 runs @ 66, SR: 122.22, 2 fifties
Haider Ali has been in prolific form in the One-Day Cup, playing for Derbyshire. He is currently the third-highest run-scorer for them in the tournament and has already scored two fifties from four outings.
Azhar Ali (Worcestershire – One-Day Cup)
133 runs @ 44.33, SR: 86.92, 1 fifty
The former Pakistan captain has been having a decent time in the One-Day Cup, having scored 133 runs from three games, including a knock of 78 against Glamorgan.
Anwar Ali (Gloucestershire – One-Day Cup)
74 runs @ 24.66, SR: 84.09, 1 fifty
1 wicket @ 137, BBI: 1-61
Bowling all-rounder Anwar Ali has had a good start to the One-Day Cup with the bat. Coming in at No.9 against Northants in the first match of the season, Ali scored 61 off 56. He hasn’t been effective with the ball, however, having picked only one wicket across four innings.
Shaan Masood (Yorkshire – One-Day Cup)
85 runs @ 42.50, SR: 88.54, 1 fifty
Masood, the former ODI vice-captain who has been recently dropped from the Asia Cup squad, has played two matches for Yorkshire in the One-Day Cup so far and has registered decent scores in both: 31 against Kent and 54 against Essex.
Zafar Gohar (Gloucestershire – One-Day Cup)
2 wickets @ 57, ER: 4.75, BBI: 1-30
Left-arm spinner Gohar has found it tough to take wickets, picking just two from three games, but has managed to keep the runs down to under five runs per over so far in his 2023 One-Day Cup campaign so far.
