Fawad Alam is a part of our team and I'm sure he will perform whenever he gets an opportunity: Azhar Ali

Fawad Alam has had a tough career as far as getting opportunities is concerned. The left-handed batsman made a lot of noise when he scored a century on his Test century in Colombo. However, his superb knock of 168 against Sri Lanka in 2009 didn’t convince the selectors to keep showing faith in him.

He further played only two Tests and his Test career got halted in 2009. He found his way into the ODI team once in a while, but even his good performances didn’t mean a confirmed spot for him.

However, with Azhar Ali being made the captain, the doors of the national team opened once again for Alam. He was expected to get a call-up for the home Test series against Bangladesh, but the match had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, there have been reports that the 34-year-old is among the 30 players expected to be called up for the initial training camp for the upcoming England tour.

I am sure Fawad Alam will make it count and perform: Azhar Ali

Now, further reports state that the captain, Azhar has backed Fawad Alam to be in the side. According to the report published by Cricket Pakistan, the captain has credited the hard work put in by Fawad and showed faith in him.

“Fawad Alam is a determined player. He is an example for youngsters. Despite being out of the team for so long, he continued his hard work and eventually made his way back into the team,” Azhar said on a local news channel. “He is currently part of our team and whenever he gets an opportunity, I am sure he will make it count and perform.”

The captain also talked about his selection policy. Ali said unless a player isn’t fit or is completely out of form, he won’t be dropped from the side. The captain stressed the necessity to continue with the same combination.

“I try to maintain consistency in selection. I prefer making a change only when a player is not feeling confident or is completely out of form. I don’t want to chop and change too much in the playing XI, so we tried to play with the same line-up in the last two series,” he added.

Coming back to Fawad Alam, he has been performing really well in the domestic first-class season over the past few years. But he hasn’t got a call-up for the Test XI of Pakistan since 2009. In the last four seasons, he has averaged above 50. In fact, his first-class record overall is also fantastic. In a total of 165 first-class matches, he has scored 12,222 runs at an average of 56.84.