Fakhar Zaman should play with positive intent, feels Ramiz Raja

Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja feels opener Fakhar Zaman needs to continue with his aggressive style of batting if he wants to be successful during the ongoing ODI series against England as well as the World Cup starting May 30. The left-hander, who is Pakistan’s only double centurion in ODIs, is Men in Green’s top trump card in the upcoming tournament in which they will hunt for their second world title.

Raja, who has done well for Pakistan in the World Cup as an opener during his playing days, remarked about Zaman after the latter was dismissed for just three runs off 11 balls in the first ODI against England at the Oval on Thursday. Pakistan was sent to bat first after England captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and they were 80 for 2 in the 19 overs when the rain-hit match was disrupted and subsequently cancelled. Pacer Jofra Archer was the pick of the English bowlers, taking the wicket of Zaman for just six runs in four overs.

Zaman has made runs in the warm-up games

Zaman has had a good outing in all the three side games that Pakistan played in England, scoring a hundred and two fifties in two List ‘A’ and one T20 game. However, when it came to playing England, he failed to make a double-figure score in the one-off T20I and the first ODI.

“I am a bit worried about Fakhar Zaman because he is trying to alter his batting DNA by playing technically,” Raja quoted as saying by the Business Recorder.

“These are all good things, but is he capable of making these changes so late in his batting career? I don’t think so.
He should play with positive intent because we get to see Fakhar’s best form when he is hitting and Pakistan [will] get a lot of benefit from it. I don’t think that he has the game to leave the ball and stay [at] the crease, so the best thing for him is to attack the opposition.”

Zaman, who is the fastest batsman to score 1,000 runs in ODIs, averages over 50 in the 50-over format and will be a key man for Sarfaraz Ahmed’s side in the World Cup. Pakistan will play four more ODIs against England before taking on Afghanistan and Bangladesh in two warm-up games before the WC kicks off. Their campaign at the WC will start on 31 when they take on the Windies in Nottingham.

[interaction id=”5cd0119bbb6fb05b8e179eda”]

Get the latest Cricket News and updates from the Indian Premier League, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.