“There’s nothing to it,” Pakistan batter says of speculation he is planning to end international career
ESPNcricinfo staff26-Feb-2025Fakhar Zaman has dismissed speculation that he is planning to retire from international cricket, and said that he was targeting a return from the injury that cut short his Champions Trophy within the next month.Fakhar, the hero of Pakistan’s 2017 Champions Trophy win with a hundred in the final, strained an oblique muscle chasing a ball in the very first over of Pakistan’s opening game against New Zealand in Karachi. He went off the field immediately, came back later but eventually could only bat at No.4 – instead of his usual opening slot.He struggled visibly with the injury during a 41-ball 24, as Pakistan crashed to a 60-run defeat. Fakhar was distraught in the dressing room after the dismissal and, given the uncertainty surrounding his arrival into the side, and that he turns 35 in April, the fact that it could have been his last game for Pakistan was not lost.But talking to PCB digital, Fakhar confirmed that he was not going anywhere. “I heard about this [retirement rumours] a lot and even my friends messaged me about it, but there’s nothing to it,” he said. “The ODI format is my favourite format. Yes, with my thyroid, there was a thing that I could take more time getting back into it. But I want to play T20s, ODIs, even Tests again. As far as my comeback is concerned, I spoke to the doctor and I can start playing cricket again within the month.”Related
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Fakhar had not played international cricket since the 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies last June, where Pakistan were eliminated in the group stage too. He last played an ODI at the 2023 ODI World Cup, another event where Pakistan exited before the knockout stages.In the run-up to this tournament, however, he had been left out of Pakistan’s central contracts. And he had also been issued a show-cause notice after a tweet he put out last September criticising the decision to drop Babar Azam from the Test side. Later, when chairman Mohsin Naqvi organised a “connection camp” to get senior players to air their views, Fakhar was among the most outspoken, singling out a senior official for trenchant criticism.That would seem to be in the past for now, with Fakhar committing to a return with Pakistan. “The doctor has advised me that I can start training again in three weeks. So I think I should be back to playing cricket in a month’s time.”Pakistan were knocked out of the Champions Trophy when they lost to India. Fakhar was replaced by Imam-ul-Haq, a move which only enhanced the scrutiny on their top order’s seemingly outdated methods. In both the defeats, the focus was on laborious innings by Babar (64 off 90 balls against New Zealand) and captain Mohammad Rizwan (46 off 77 balls against India), the former stymying momentum in a big chase and the latter leading to a below-par target being set.Pakistan had already lost Saim Ayub to injury before the tournament and the subsequent loss of Fakhar was a double-whammy that coach Aaqib Javed identified as one of the pivotal reasons for their poor showing. Fakhar has a career strike rate of nearly 94 in ODIs and was clear about the way to play in the modern game.”The biggest thing is the situation. If you are chasing 150-200 runs you go in with a different mindset and if you are chasing 350, you have a different mindset,” Aaqib said. “But strike rate does matter, especially these days. And you have to play risky cricket. Cricket has become so fast-scoring, all teams come with that plan. If you take risks, you can score runs, although yes, you can also lose your wicket doing that.”