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Injured Pakistan batter Fakhar Zaman has rubbished rumours about his retirement, saying he wants to continue playing all forms of cricket and should be fit for national duty in a month’s time. Zaman got hurt during Pakistan’s opening match in the Champions Trophy against New Zealand in Karachi, and was later ruled out of the marquee tournament owing to a recurring knee injury. He was replaced in the squad by Imam-ul-Haq. Following the injury, the social media was abuzz with rumours that the 34-year-old top-order batter was planning to end his cricketing career. “Well, I’ve also heard a lot about this and my friends have also sent messages. There is no truth in this. One-day is my favourite format and, yes, because of my thyroid (problem) I was thinking of taking some time off from cricket.
“But retirement never crossed my mind. I want to play One-day, T20, even I want to play Test cricket,” Zaman said in a video posted on ‘X’ by Pakistan Cricket Board.
Zaman, who has played 86 ODIs and averages a little over 46, had suffered a muscle strain while fielding in the New Zealand innings and remained away from the field for most part of the match in the Champions Trophy opener.
The injury happened while he was chasing a ball heading to the boundary in the first over of the contest. Zaman’s ouster was a blow to the side as he was in reasonably good form. Pakistan lost their next match to arch-foes India in Dubai by six wickets to be eliminated from the eight-team tournament.
Zaman said he will be back to full fitness in a month’s time.
“A far as my comeback (from injury) is concerned, I will hopefully return to competitive cricket in a month. I got an idea (about my Champions Trophy campaign ending) after the pain I felt,” he said. The left-handed batter said that had he opened against New Zealand chasing the mammoth 320-run total, things could have been different.
He wasn’t able to open the batting in the second innings, forcing Saud Shakeel to take stance as a stop-gap opener. Zaman batted at No.4, scoring 24 off 41, but seemed visibly struggling during his knock in the match which Pakistan lost by 60 runs.
“Had I opened then things could have been different because when you get a big target, then the opener has a big role to play.” Zaman said he had seen a marked improvement in his injury over the week.
“In the last one week, I’ve seen a marked improvement in my healing. The doctor has said that I can start training after three weeks, so I should be back in one month.” Zaman said despite white-ball cricket being his favourite, he still wants to play the red-ball format.
“I still want to play Tests but but the coaches and captain have their own planning and I also feel that there are better Test players in Pakistan,” he said, adding, “I would like to open on comeback but it’s up to them where they want to keep me.”
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