Fakhar Zaman is set to return to the Pakistan cricket team. The 34-year-old hasn’t featured for Pakistan in the last 5 months and found himself out of favour, especially after voicing his concerns regarding granting NOCs and then criticising the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for their dropping of Babar Azam.
Fakhar Zaman back in Pakistan’s team
It looked like Zaman wouldn’t feature for Pakistan again, but his luck has changed. The southpaw has found himself in the reckoning once again. He wasn’t part of the Australia or Zimbabwe white-ball tours but will feature for Pakistan against South Africa for the upcoming 3-format tour, which starts on December 1.
“Fakhar, who was dropped for the white-ball series in Australia and Zimbabwe because of a failed fitness test and knee problem, has apparently worked on his fitness and is in line to be considered for the white-ball matches in South Africa,” a source close to the national selectors told PTI.
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No T20 return
However, the return would stay limited to ODIs. With the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 coming up, PCB might have decided to bring the veteran back for 50-over cricket, but his exile from T20 will remain, and given his age, he might not ever return in the shortest format.
Instead of backing him, PCB would like to blood in more youngsters, keeping the T20 World Cup 2026 in mind. Haseebullah Khan, Omair Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, and Tayyab Tahir are all younger and therefore have been added to their squad for Zimbabwe T20Is.
“As far as the T20 squad is concerned, the selectors are still deliberating on giving more exposure to the pool of new players for the format who were picked for the Australia and Zimbabwe series,” the source added.
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