Born in Mardan, where the standard of batsmanship will always be measured by arguably Pakistan’s greatest Test batsman Younis Khan, Fakhar Zaman has been on Pakistan’s thankless domestic circuit for over five years with almost no attention. A left-handed opener with an unusually high backlift, Zaman relies on timing for his runs, which he’s made plenty of. This is illustrated by his domestic average (42 in first class cricket and 49 in List A). But it wasn’t until the Quaid-e-Azam trophy in 2016-17 that his form began to be noticed. Zaman scored 663 runs in the competition at an average of 51, including 170 in the second innings of the final, a game dominated by the twin centuries of former Pakistan captain Salman Butt.
