'Happy & excited to play' - Fawad Alam shares his eagerness to play for Pakistan again

Pakistan has picked the 34-year-old top-order batsman Fawad Alam for the historic two-match Test series against Sri Lanka. He made his debut back in 2009 in Tests for the Men in Green but after three games he was dropped from the side due to poor form. He had to wait for a decade to get his next call up from the national selectors. Now, Fawad has expressed his excitement for the upcoming two-match series.

Misbah ul Haq, the national selector and Head Coach of Pakistan on Saturday said that Fawad Alam has been picked in the Test squad on the back of his prolific form in the domestic cricket. Earlier, many former cricketing greats had also criticized the selection panel for constantly ignoring Alam, even when he was performing well for his domestic side.

Fawad Alam amassed 781 runs at an average of 71 in the domestic tournament while playing for Sindh. In his last six outings, he has played 116, 211, 65, 107, 29* and 92. Moreover, he has scored his last three hundred at National Stadium in Karachi, which is the scheduled venue for the 2nd Test against Sri Lanka.

Fawad Alam opines on the historic Test series against Sri Lanka

Now, Fawad has shown his excitement for the historic Test series against Sri Lanka and shared it with his fans on social media. He took to his Twitter handle and wrote, “Happy & excited to play on the big occasion of Test cricket returning to Pakistan. Thankful to Almighty for his blessing. Now waiting to see huge crowds in our home stadiums in sha Allah.”

It is a historic series for Pakistan as it marks the return of Test cricket back to the nation after a long span of a decade. PCB earlier this year hosted a three-match ODI and T20I series against Sri Lanka. And, now they have invited the same opponent to play but in the longer format.

This series will also be the part of ICC Test Championship, so it will offer an important opportunity to both sides to grab some points and improve their position in the Test Championship’s points table. Currently, Sri Lanka is ranked 4th and Pakistan is on the eighth position.

The two-match Test series will begin from December 11 and its 1st Test will be played at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi followed by the 2nd game at National Stadium in Karachi on December 19.

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