If David Warner was here in Pakistan, he wouldn’t have been considered for Test cricket: Sohaib Maqsood

Pakistan’s right-hander batsman Sohaib Maqsood featured in his last game for the Men in Green in 2014 in a One Day International against Sri Lanka. The batter is still looking forward to making his comeback into the Pakistan side as he revealed that he is focusing more on the limited-overs format and the Tests aren’t in his mind.

In an interview, Maqsood made a startling revelation regarding the mindset of Pakistan team management as he asserted that there was a time in Pakistan cricket history when the fast-scoring batsmen weren’t considered for the purest format of the game. The 34-year-old revealed that his Test career never took off as there was a mindset in Pakistan that the fast-scoring batters should only him limited to ODIs and T20Is. 

Maqsood represented the Men in Green in 26 One Day Internationals and 20 T20 Internationals scoring 735 and 221 runs respectively. The right-hander revealed that the mindset of not picking fast-scoring players in Tests hampered his career as he was performing well in domestic cricket in 2012-13.

“At this point, Test cricket is not on my mind. In 2013 when I came into the side, my main focus was on ODI and Test cricket. I didn’t rate myself as a T20 player at that point,” he said in an exclusive chat with Cricwick.

“I was a very consistent performer in four-day cricket. I was averaging around 50 at that time in first-class and List A cricket. Like I’ve said, in Pakistan, there was a culture at one time that if a player scores quickly, he is only suited for ODIs and T20s. There is an example of Virender Sehwag. I think if David Warner was here in Pakistan, he wouldn’t have been considered for Test cricket at that point.”

If I had played Tests, I would’ve been the same batsman like I was: Sohaib Maqsood

Further in the interaction, Sohaib asserted that in the Test format there are more opportunities to grow and score runs quickly. The Pakistan stalwart believes that the satisfaction of scoring a hundred in the purest format is the way among than the pleasure in slamming a century in ODI or T20I. He also believes that his career would have been different if he would have played Test format.

“When I played four-day cricket and even now, I feel like if your technique is compact, there are more opportunities to score runs quickly. Obviously in four-day cricket when you score a hundred, the satisfaction you get in watching can’t be compared with a century in an ODI or a T20 hundred.

“If I had played Test cricket, I would’ve been the same batsman like I was. The biggest mistake I made was that if I was playing at No. 6, suddenly I tried to change myself. Like suddenly I would become Andre Russell or Keiron Pollard. So I think I didn’t go anywhere with that approach, ” Sohaib Maqsood concluded.