Fakhar Zaman confident of returning for Pakistan at ICC Champions Trophy

Fakhar Zaman, Pakistan’s top-order batter, is optimistic that his nation will play for the ICC Champions Trophy in February and March while playing for his country in other international cricket after eight months.

Fakhar hasn’t played international cricket since Pakistan’s exit from the T20 World Cup in June, and for the first time in eight years, he hasn’t received a central contract with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

“The plan was to get fully fit and play in the Champions Trophy”, Fakhar said. “It’s fortunate that I’m currently in good health. I started with the 2017 Champions Trophy, which was a great experience. I’m anticipating the upcoming edition also very much.

In the 2017 edition of the World Cup, Fakhar scored the match-winning century in the final match against India.

As he prepared to play for Desert Vipers in the United Arab Emirates in the International League T20 (ILT20), Fakhar explained to the Vipers Voices podcast, “People don’t know that I got sick after the T20 World Cup.” “I was not part of the team because of my medical condition, but now I’m 100 percent sure I will play for Pakistan”.

Just before Babar Azam was controversially rested for the final two home Test matches against England in late 2013, the veteran batter made headlines for his inconsistent red-ball game play. Fakhar received a show-cause notice for his favorable Babar post on social media from the PCB.

The post did not go down well with PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who also expressed concerns over Fakhar’s fitness.

“It cannot happen like that. Naqvi told reporters at the time that if the selection committee is not playing just one player, then other players would start tweeting their disappointments.

“We will never allow that, and players are not allowed to function like this.” The main issue with]Fakhar] is his fitness test that he was not able to clear”.

In the absence of Fakhar, Pakistan won three away one-day international (ODI) series over the last two months, beating Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa under the captaincy of new white-ball captain Mohammad Rizwan.

Fakhar was the third highest-scorer in 10 games with a strike rate of 132.31 when he made his domestic Champions Cup T20 debut back home last month.

Pakistan’s latest white-ball sensation, Saim Ayub, made two ODI centuries in South Africa before he fractured his right ankle during the second Test at Cape Town last week.

Ayub’s participation in competitive cricket is in doubt for the Champions Trophy because he has been ruled out for at least six weeks.

Ayub was taken to London on Monday for treatment by the PCB, and Fakhar expressed his hope that the country’s first significant ICC tournament in 29 years would be held there.