Hailing from Malakand agency in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), but based in Karachi, Sohail Khan had a debut first-class season in the 2007-08 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy few in Pakistan have equalled. The right-arm fast-medium bowler, playing for Sui Southern Gas Corporation (SSGC), took 65 wickets in his first nine matches, with as many as eight five-wicket hauls. The second of his ten-wicket match hauls was 16 for 189, which shattered Fazal Mahmood’s long-standing national record for best haul (15 for 76). The performances catapulted him from obscurity to an international debut against Zimbabwe in January 2008.