Khurram Shahzad will make his international debut in Pakistan’s Perth Test against Australia, starting on December 14 (Thursday), and here’s all you need to know about the quick.
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The 24-year-old Shahzad made his first-class debut in 2017 and has played 45 games over the last six years, picking up 136 scalps at an average of 29.24. Shahzad has five five-fors and recently picked up a 10-wicket match-haul for Faisalabad against FATA in the 2023 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. He ended the edition as the tournament’s top wicket-taker, claiming 36 wickets at an average of 20.30.
Shahzad, whose action has been likened to Dale Steyn’s, picked up only four wickets in his first season in the Quaid-e-Azam, but 64 wickets in the next three campaigns saw him emerge as a player to watch out for. He was also making a mark in List A cricket in the background: Shahzad picked up seven wickets from four games in his debut List A season at an economy rate of 6.13, playing for Habib Limited Bank. In Shahzad’s next List A tournament, the Mughal Steel Pakistan Cup, he conceded only 4.63 runs an over across games, which helped him get picked for the Pakistan Shaheens squad against Sri Lanka.
Shahzad picked up 3-19 in his sole outing with the ball in the List A leg of that tour. In the first unofficial Test against Sri Lanka A, he took 3-10 as he and Naseem Shah decimated the Sri Lanka line-up bowling them out for just 67 in their first innings. Shahzad followed up that spell with figures of 3-25 in the second unofficial Test as Sri Lanka were bundled out for 141 in their first innings.
In the recent Pakistan Cup, he took 13 wickets in five games at an average of 16.61 and was the only bowler to get two four-wicket hauls in the tournament.
He was picked by Quetta Gladiators in 2021 for the Pakistan Super League and played two games the next year as well for Peshawar Zalmi, picking up 4-22 against Karachi Kings, his career-best T20 figures. He has been retained by Zalmi for the next season.
Overall, Shahzad has played 26 T20 matches, picking up 27 wickets.
He was picked in Pakistan’s Test squad for Australia and earned a place in the XI for the first Test after taking 1-50 in the warm-up match, ending as the most economical quick from his side in the match.
