Saud Shakeel

On one hand if we have those ostentatious and flashy batsmen, at the same time there are a few of them who make batting look elegant and classy. You can say Saud Shakeel is one of them. In this modern T20 era, stylishness and timing have taken a back seat. It's all about those big hits, boundaries, sixes and just throwing your bat at everything that comes your way. Hit out or get out. After all that is what majority of spectators want to see. However, at times it's also pleasurable to see a batsman who can amuse us and make batting look so unforced and nonchalant.

Born in Karachi, Shakeel has a significant average of 40s in list A and first-class cricket that work well with his handy left-arm orthodox spin. Michael Hussey and Saeed Anwar are two of his favorite cricketers of all times and the southpaw is a part of Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League. Shakeel, who was also a part of U-19 World Cup in 2014 had to wait for almost 8 years for his Test debut. And once the debut was done, he went on to create a record of scoring more than 20 runs in his first 15 innings. He broke the record of former West Indian batter Everton Weeks who had 14 consecutive scores of 20 or more in his first 14 knocks. The style and panache that Shakeel brought in was a breathe of fresh air for a team which had been struggling to find a solid middle-order bat. He averaged more than 60 in 2022 and 2023 in Tests scoring his maiden Test ton against NZ and then a Test later scored his maiden Test double against the Lankans at Galle. He soon became an immovable force in the middle-order in Tests. He was handed his ODI debut before his Test debut in 2021 but his moment under the sun came in his first WC game in 2023 when he came in to bat with Pakistan reeling at 38 for 3 against the Dutch. He played a terrific counter-attacking knock of 68 off only 52 balls. He batted 7 times in that edition of the WC and got starts in 6 of them with his only failure coming against arch rivals India. He had an excellent season at the PSL as well for Quetta Gladiators where he scored 323 from 10 games.