In Ayub, Pakistan have a new potential all-format superstar knocking at the selectors’ doors with consistent domestic returns. Aged just 21, Ayub is being touted to be Pakistan’s batting future after they crashed out of the World Cup 2023 in the league stages, leading to a series of drastic changes in both management and team combinations.

Who is Saim Ayub?

Run-machine in domestic cricket

Born in the port city of Karachi in Pakistan, Saim Ayub plies his trade for Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) while representing his home team, Karachi Region Whites, in List A and First-class matches.

Ayub started his domestic career for Sindh on a stellar note in the Pakistan Cup 2021/2022 season with 51 off 57 balls, comprising eight fours and two sixes before unfurling his first-class career similarly, with him registering a stylish 79 off 151 balls against Central Punjab in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2022/23.

The following first-class season was when he made his presence felt, becoming the seventh-highest run-getter in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2023/24 with 553 runs from just four matches at an average of 79, including three centuries. He signed off the competition with a double hundred and a hundred in both innings of the final, becoming the only cricketer in Pakistan to achieve this feat and helping Karachi Whites claim the silverware in the process.

In the Pakistan Cup 2023/24, Ayub has kept his rich vein of form intact as he leads the batting charts with 386 runs from seven innings at an average of 55.14 while striking at a blistering 121.38. Against Rawalpindi, Ayub struck 179 runs off 125 deliveries, clattering 15 boundaries and 11 sixes before smashing a match-winning 95 versus Multan to take Karachi Whites to the final against Peshawar.

T20 globetrotter

Ayub shot to fame with a breakthrough PSL 2023 season, scoring 341 runs from 12 matches for Peshawar Zalmi at a staggering strike rate of 166, and with five fifties. The fact that only skipper Babar Azam matched his tally of half-centuries earned him a lot of praise from different quarters of Pakistan cricket, touting him as the next big thing.

Before that, Ayub had a successful stint in the 2023 Caribbean Premier League, scoring truckloads of rapid runs for Guyana Amazon Warriors, and helping his franchise clinch their maiden CPL title. The aggressive opener scored 478 runs in the successful season at a strike-rate of 143 while breaching 50 on four occasions. He ended three runs shy of his teammate Shai Hope, the leading run-scorer in the tournament.

Hope was in awe of Ayub’s talent: “He is a quality player, just love to see him bat. He is very easy on the eye and I hope he can continue going from strength to strength and probably get into that Pakistan team.”

International debut

On the back of the ground-breaking T20I form, Ayub earned his maiden international call-up in a series against Afghanistan. In the lead-up to the series, captain Shadab Khan spoke highly of the pugnacious southpaw opener comparing his batting prowess with the talismanic Babar: “I think Saim is an exceptional talent. After a very long time, we have got a player like him who we can say is as stylish and good as Babar and Abdullah”

“The way Saim plays, he is a player of Babar’s category. Players like them are too good to watch even when they score runs against your team. They are too stylish batters.”

Although Ayub’s domestic exploits didn’t translate into his eight T20I appearances, a breakthrough performance is just a moment away.