Undoubtedly, the 4th edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL) has some exciting players to look out for. One of them is AB de Villers. But the one player most Pakistani cricket fans were hoping not to see was Ahmed Shehzad.
Though, disappointingly he is going to play in this league for Quetta Gladiators – the unfortunate team. Now, why do I say this?
Yes, I hate the guy. Not just for his timid batting but for his silly antics as well. Let’s take a look at his stats in the PSL.
Shehzad, 27, has played 30 matches and scored 705 runs in 29 innings with an average of 25.18 and strike rate of 119.90.
His stats aren’t bad at all. In fact, he was the highest runs scorer till the 2nd season of PSL. The problem with Ahmed Shahzad is this: he has been given countless chances to play for Pakistan but each time has failed miserably.
Plus, his frequent involvement in controversies hasn’t helped his cause. And it makes his performance look worse. So in order to get back into the good books of Pakistani Cricket fans, he’ll need to do something special.
If he ends up in the top 3 scorers for this season, you never know with PCB – they might bring him back again to the national side.
Mickey Arthur, Pakistan Cricket team Coach has already said that good performances in the PSL- 4 can lead to a berth in upcoming Cricket World Cup.
At the moment, Imam-ul-Haq has his placed booked for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. His partner, Fakhar Zaman has been struggling off late so for him to do well in this PSL is important.
He needs to fire otherwise Shehzad or Shan Masood would be looking to take his position.
In my view, even if Shehzad turns out to be the leading runs scorer in the 4th season of PSL, he won’t be able to transfer that into international matches.
I could be wrong in my assessment, but the last thing Pakistan needs is Ahmed Shehzad in the national team.
So with that being said, I’m relatively happy for now that he is only playing PSL.
Lastly, it would have been much better for Quetta Gladiators to bring in new talents like Lahore Qalandars and Islamabad United have done so far in their campaigns.
One of the objectives of PSL is to find and groom new talent. But it is unfortunate that some of the franchises still select players that have lost their shine.
