ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Super League (PSL) Season 9 witnessed local players showcasing top-notch in the extravaganza, to get on the selectors’ radar for the T20 World Cup to be played in the USA and Caribbean.
Five players who performed well in the tournament and are to look for keeping in mind the next T20 World Cup included Imad Wasim, Mehran Mumtaz, Abrar Ahmed, Haider Ali, and Usman Khan.
Haider Ali (103 runs in 5 innings at a strike rate of 163.49), performed very well. He was left unpicked at the draft before Islamabad United selected him as a late replacement. And 2 nerveless, unbeaten innings in virtual knockouts for Islamabad United conjured flashbacks of the kind of player Pakistan thought they were getting with Haider Ali.
Next was Imad Wasim (126 runs in 9 innings at a strike rate of 128.57 | twelve wickets in twelve innings at an economy rate of 6.60), who last played for the national team over a year ago, and has officially retired from international cricket, but it is difficult to ignore him.
Third was Mehran Mumtaz (five wickets in 5 innings at an economy rate of 6.63), who gets the ball to grip and turn while bowling at about 100kph. Mumtaz, the twenty-year-old left-arm bowler, didn’t play much of the PSL, but in the 5 games he did, he was both captivating and effective. He took 5 wickets, but it was the economy rate that stood out – 6.63, a smidge over Imad’s.
PSL’s Fourth Star
Fourth was Abrar Ahmed (sixteen wickets in 10 innings at an economy rate of 7.82), who broke through at PSL with Peshawar Zalmi and Karachi Kings before injuries wiped years off his career. But when he re-emerged, Pakistan, for some reason, viewed him as a red-ball specialist, handing him his international debut against England in Multan.
Usman Khan (430 runs in 7 innings at a strike rate of 164.12), who was good enough is not a doubt at the moment. At PSL, only Babar Azam scored more runs and Usman played four fewer games, scoring 2 of the PSL’s four hundreds at an average in excess of 107 and a strike rate exceeding 164.
Usman Khan changed his affiliation to the UAE in 2022 but he still has 14 months left to qualify for the UAE, and though he was lukewarm about his ambitions to play for Pakistan, there is little doubt Pakistan would not want to let a player like him slip away quite so easily.
