Fakhar Zaman talks about his hardships to reach the highest level

The Champions Trophy turned out to be a dream tournament for Fakhar Zaman. He finished it off in style with a match winning century in the finals against arch rivals India as Pakistan registered their maiden Champions Trophy win. He got a hero’s welcome on coming back to the nation as he was treated with garlands back in Katlang in northwestern Pakistan.

After the celebrations and collecting the prizes Zaman talked about the struggles he had to see through in his career as well as life and how he overcame them. The left-hander recalled that he was once rejected from participating in local cricket games because he was a hardball player.

“I played one or two hard-ball matches in school and scored some runs. I then became popular in the whole region and people used to say wherever I went that, ‘He is a hard-ball player, don’t play with him,” he said in his conversation with AFP.

Being beaten up for playing cricket

This wasn’t the only setback that he experienced in his early days. Zaman’s brother, Asif, mentioned that he regrets having beaten up his younger brother for playing cricket. “But he never quit cricket and has become a hero today. He has become a Lord for us,” Asif added.

In spite of all the hardships, Fakhar never gave up. Indeed he interestingly served the Pakistani Navy for a brief period of time. That’s where his cricketing talent got justice as his Navy coach Nazim Khan recommended him to give up his job and concentrate on the game. This can be majorly credited as the reason behind his success in international cricket.

After five years of hard work and dedication in the domestic tourneys, he gained recognition for his exploits in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) this year. With Sharjeel Khan’s alleged involvement in match fixing and Ahmed Shehzad’s repeated failures, Zaman grabbed this opportunity and made the best of it.

Having scored a splendid 114 from just 106 balls, the 27-year-old’s scintillating performance took Pakistan to their third ICC title win. Even Indian captain Virat Kohli admitted that it was really difficult to counter his batting style as it upset the rhythm of the Indian bowlers.