The Pakistan squads announced for the four upcoming one day internationals and three Twenty20 internationals against England had a familiar ring to them. The vast majority of the successful Test squad were included together with the expected familiar group of short format specialists.
Batting all rounder Hammad Azam was recalled in place of the injured Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Malik received a belated call up after the personal intervention of captain Misbah ul Haq, whilst Adnan Akmal is preferred over Sarfraz Ahmed behind the stumps.
The one new name however in the Twenty20 squad is 25 year old left handed batsmen Awais Zia who created quite an impression when he represented the Rawalpindi Rams in the Domestic Twenty20 tournament last year, helping them to the final, where they lost to Sialkot.
An innovative batsman who has a wide array of shots, Awais’ style of batting is ideally suited to the Twenty over format and he has a certain degree of unpredictability that can unsettle the opposition bowlers.
Speaking with PakPassion.net Awais spoke of his delight at being given the opportunity to represent his country and how much he was looking forward to meeting up with the rest of the Pakistan squad in the UAE.
“I’m absolutely delighted and I couldn’t believe it when I heard the news. I’m just raring to go now and to get to the UAE as soon as possible. I don’t leave until the 17th or 18th of February so it’s going to be a long few days until I leave and the excitement will really build up prior to my departure. I feel blessed to be given this opportunity and I will give my all when I get a chance.”
Zia’s cricketing journey began playing in the streets of his village (Bhown), before he made it to the local area team. The next step on his cricketing journey was playing for his school cricket team before playing club cricket in Chakwal. The coaches at his club in Chakwal were impressed and suggested to him that he attend the local cricketing trials where various coaches would be in attendance. He went along to the trials with some friends to see what the trials entailed, rather than with high hopes or a cricketing career in mind.
At the trials he was spotted by some Jhelum coaches and was asked to play for them. He accepted their offer without much hesitation and started playing for Jhelum district and then Grade 2 cricket, before finally getting a chance in first class cricket for Rawalpindi in 2007.
Zia added that his selection for Pakistan had proved to be very popular in the neighbouring towns and villages from his Chakwal home, but had proved to be a busy time for his family.
“My family were saying that since my name was announced in the Twenty20 squad the phone at home has not stopped and the house has been full with well wishers. It seems that all my friends and family and even some strangers from neighbouring towns and villages have come to visit our house to wish me well. It’s so nice of everyone to wish me well and if all the prayers are anything to go by then I should do well.”
“My aim is to make everyone proud and to do my best. It’s a dream come true for me as cricketers from all over the world dream of playing for their country and for me to be chosen in the squad is just fantastic. I really do feel honoured.”
“It's been a tough journey and there's been a lot of hard work and effort to reach this far. It's not been easy and there have been more downs than ups, but by the grace of the Almighty things are much better now. If you want to achieve something then you have to take the bad days with the good days. There were days however when I thought of giving up on cricket but then I thought why give up on my dream and give up what I really wanted to do.”
Whilst he has been called up only for the twenty over squad, there are many observers who feel that Zia can stake a claim in the one day side but he felt that it was all about just focussing on a good debut at this stage and added “Let’s take things one step at a time. Let’s try and perform well if given the chance in twenty over cricket and then take it from there. If the selectors feel that I deserve a chance in other formats then I am ready for that challenge too. The Asia Cup is a target so let’s see how things develop.”
The One Day international commence on Monday 13th February with the three Twenty20 internationals beginning on 23rd February in Dubai.
Batting all rounder Hammad Azam was recalled in place of the injured Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Malik received a belated call up after the personal intervention of captain Misbah ul Haq, whilst Adnan Akmal is preferred over Sarfraz Ahmed behind the stumps.
The one new name however in the Twenty20 squad is 25 year old left handed batsmen Awais Zia who created quite an impression when he represented the Rawalpindi Rams in the Domestic Twenty20 tournament last year, helping them to the final, where they lost to Sialkot.
An innovative batsman who has a wide array of shots, Awais’ style of batting is ideally suited to the Twenty over format and he has a certain degree of unpredictability that can unsettle the opposition bowlers.
Speaking with PakPassion.net Awais spoke of his delight at being given the opportunity to represent his country and how much he was looking forward to meeting up with the rest of the Pakistan squad in the UAE.
“I’m absolutely delighted and I couldn’t believe it when I heard the news. I’m just raring to go now and to get to the UAE as soon as possible. I don’t leave until the 17th or 18th of February so it’s going to be a long few days until I leave and the excitement will really build up prior to my departure. I feel blessed to be given this opportunity and I will give my all when I get a chance.”
Zia’s cricketing journey began playing in the streets of his village (Bhown), before he made it to the local area team. The next step on his cricketing journey was playing for his school cricket team before playing club cricket in Chakwal. The coaches at his club in Chakwal were impressed and suggested to him that he attend the local cricketing trials where various coaches would be in attendance. He went along to the trials with some friends to see what the trials entailed, rather than with high hopes or a cricketing career in mind.
At the trials he was spotted by some Jhelum coaches and was asked to play for them. He accepted their offer without much hesitation and started playing for Jhelum district and then Grade 2 cricket, before finally getting a chance in first class cricket for Rawalpindi in 2007.
Zia added that his selection for Pakistan had proved to be very popular in the neighbouring towns and villages from his Chakwal home, but had proved to be a busy time for his family.
“My family were saying that since my name was announced in the Twenty20 squad the phone at home has not stopped and the house has been full with well wishers. It seems that all my friends and family and even some strangers from neighbouring towns and villages have come to visit our house to wish me well. It’s so nice of everyone to wish me well and if all the prayers are anything to go by then I should do well.”
“My aim is to make everyone proud and to do my best. It’s a dream come true for me as cricketers from all over the world dream of playing for their country and for me to be chosen in the squad is just fantastic. I really do feel honoured.”
“It's been a tough journey and there's been a lot of hard work and effort to reach this far. It's not been easy and there have been more downs than ups, but by the grace of the Almighty things are much better now. If you want to achieve something then you have to take the bad days with the good days. There were days however when I thought of giving up on cricket but then I thought why give up on my dream and give up what I really wanted to do.”
Whilst he has been called up only for the twenty over squad, there are many observers who feel that Zia can stake a claim in the one day side but he felt that it was all about just focussing on a good debut at this stage and added “Let’s take things one step at a time. Let’s try and perform well if given the chance in twenty over cricket and then take it from there. If the selectors feel that I deserve a chance in other formats then I am ready for that challenge too. The Asia Cup is a target so let’s see how things develop.”
The One Day international commence on Monday 13th February with the three Twenty20 internationals beginning on 23rd February in Dubai.
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the legend can go home and spend some good time with his family.
Nuff said.
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can last decades, what's wrong with giving a few chances to leg-side sloggers?
